University team gives mummified man from city museum some TLC

STUDENTS have been carrying out repairs to a 2,300-year-old Egyptian mummy following centuries of damage as part of their university course.

- By ED CHATTERTON

The mummified man, known as Pa-Sheri, lived around 300 BCE during Egypt's Ptolemaic period and came to Britain in the 19th century.

Since at least 1859, he has been part of a collection at Derby Museums, which has now sent him to the University of Lincoln for conservation work.

Student conservators have since been working on repairing the mummified remains in a lab to give it a new lease of life and preserve its history.

During the 19th century, it was common for mummified people brought to Britain to be unwrapped and “examined”.

Legend has it that a curse is to be cast upon anyone who disturbs the mummy of an ancient Egyptian.

Undeterred, students Ella Maude and Ella Monteiro have been working on Pa-Sheri with senior technician Josephine Mackenzie.

The university said Pa-Sheri’s intricately painted cartonnage (ancient Egyptian technique of making mummy cases from layers of linen or papyrus covered in plaster) and gilded mask suggest high social standing in the ancient city of Luxor.