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Egyptian Antiquities: Ireland Plans to Return Mummy and Other Artifacts to Egypt
Ireland to send mummy and ancient artifacts back to Egypt
Ireland is to return a collection of ancient artifacts to Egypt including a mummified human and a wooden coffin. The items date from 975 BC to 100 AD and will be returned by University College Cork (UCC).
The mummy is of an adult male according to an inscription on the wooden coffin which was donated to UCC in 1928 and is of a man called Hor.
Also being returned are four canopic jars – containers used by the ancient Egyptians to store internal organs during mummification – and two cartonnage burial masks. The jars are the oldest items in the collection and date from 945 to 700 BC and were purchased by the university from an antiques dealer in Yorkshire.
There is no record of how the cartonnage came into the university’s possession. The sarcophagus was discovered by Italian Egyptologist Ernesto Schiaparelli through excavations in the early 20th century. The decision to return these artifacts was made after discussions between UCC, the Egyptian government and the National Museum of Ireland.
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said he was happy to support “a big project”.
Egyptian Ambassador to Ireland, Mohamed Tharwat Selim thanked everyone involved in the repatriation process.
The return will be documented through a project called “Kinship” led by Irish artist Dorothy Cross. Cross said “The core of the project is the return of an Egyptian mummy from Ireland to Cairo, which is the opposite of the displacement and migration of thousands of people from their homelands today.”
In recent times more institutions are returning artifacts to their countries of origin. Greek officials are in talks with the British Museum about the return of the Parthenon sculptures (Elgin Marbles). Germany also announced earlier this year it will return artifacts taken from Africa during colonial times.
