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Atlanta's Pyramid Connection

After extensive study to verify the claim, Emory University archaeologists have established proof that the mummy in their care is that of Pharoah Ramesses I. The mummy was acquired by the university's Michael C. Carlos Museum in 1999, when the Niagara Falls Museum contacted Dr. Peter Lacovara, an Egyptologist and the Curator of Ancient Art at the Michael C. Carlos Museum. Niagara Museum offered its collection of Egyptian antiquities, and the Carlos Museum was interested, but they faced a daunting challenge: the necessary funds must be raised in two weeks!

Local media put the spotlight on this situation, and Atlanta citizens donated everything from small change to millions of dollars. The funds were raised in time, and the collection came home to Atlanta.

In studying the collection, the Egyptologists at Carlos Museum learned of the fascinating journey the mummy had made. Stolen from his tomb in the Deir el-Bahri by tomb robber Ahmed Abd el-Rassul and his family, the mummy had been sold. Mummies were often sold to tourists in those days as the ultimate souvenier. Eventually, the mummy was owned by Thomas Barnett, a sort of P.T. Barnum character who displayed curiousities at the Niagara Falls Museum and Daredevil Hall of Fame. The whole dramatic story is available, with illustrations at http: //carlos.emory.edu/RAMESSES/.

Now that the mummy has been definitely identified as Ramesses I, the Carlos Museum has offered to return the body to Egypt as a good will gesture. Dr. Zahi Hawass, famed Egyptologist and Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt, and Director of the Giza Pyramid Excavation, will escort Ramesses I home for a royal reception in October. Dr. Hawass has said that, in returning the Pharoah to Egypt, the Carlos Museum is doing something no other museum has done before. Egypt's cultural heritage is scattered worldwide, and it is to be hoped that other museums will follow the Carlos Museum's lead. (Dr. Hawass's web site is a motherload of information on Egyptian archaeology and can be seen at http://www.guardians.net/hawass/.) Until then, Ramesses will be on exhibition at the Carlos Museum, located on the Emory University Campus. For a detailed account of the scientific processes used for identification, see the web site above. For directions, see http://carlos.emory.edu/INFORMATION/directions.html or call. There is a map of the campus on the web site, but it is not easily read. Go to Mapquest.com for a more legible map. Admission is free for members, $5.00 for non-members.

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