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Radiocarbon Dating of a Series of the Heads of Egyptian Mummies from the Musée des Confluences, Lyon (France)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2017

Pascale Richardin ,
Annie Perraud ,
Jasmine Hertzog ,
Karine Madrigal  and
Didier Berthet
Pascale Richardin*
Affiliation:
Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France (C2RMF), Palais du Louvre, Porte des Lions, 14 quai François Mitterrand, 75001 Paris, France
Annie Perraud
Affiliation:
Égypte Nilotique et Méditerranéenne - UMR 5140 Archéologie des Sociétés Méditerranéennes, Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier, France
Jasmine Hertzog
Affiliation:
Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France (C2RMF), Palais du Louvre, Porte des Lions, 14 quai François Mitterrand, 75001 Paris, France Laboratoire de chimie et physique - Approche multi-échelle des milieux complexes (LCP-A2MC), Metz, France
Karine Madrigal
Affiliation:
Association Dauphinoise d’Egyptologie Champollion (ADEC), Grenoble, France
Didier Berthet
Affiliation:
Musée des Confluences, Lyon (France)
*
*Corresponding author. Email: pascale.richardin@culture.gouv.fr.
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Abstract

As part of a multidisciplinary project concerning the practices of mummification in ancient Egypt, we studied a series of 33 human remains, collected during the late 19th century. These heads of human mummies belong to the Osteology collection from the Musée des Confluences of Lyon. One of the important issues of this research project was to establish a chronology of the mummification processes. However, the lack of archaeological data and excavation reports does not allow the dating of the specimens. Thus, during this project, these heads have been radiocarbon dated in order to place the individuals in a reliable chronological and cultural framework. As a result, 20 samples of hair and 13 samples of linen textiles of the wrappings have been taken. The results raised a lot of uncertainties about the chronology of these mummies and the need to validate or correct the original date attributions were given by the discoverers. As an example, among the 13 mummies thought to be dated between the 11th and 20th Dynasties, none appears from this period. In the same way, six mummies were originally dated from the Ptolemaic period. However, only one belongs to this period, four are Roman, and the last one is from the New Kingdom.

Keywords

AMS datingmummiesEgyptConfluences Museum
Type
Puzzles in Archaeological Chronologies
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 59 , Special Issue 2: Proceedings of the 22nd International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 1 of 2) , April 2017 , pp. 609 - 619
Copyright
© 2017 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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Footnotes

Selected Papers from the 2015 Radiocarbon Conference, Dakar, Senegal, 16–20 November 2015

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