Virtual Tour: Anthropology

Paleontology | Anthropology | Birds | Collections


Anthropology is the study of ancient people through objects they leave behind, such as tools and graves.

The Egyptian Mummy of the Joseph Moore Museum

While traveling in Egypt in 1889, J.J. Mills, president of Earlham College, purchased a mummy from the Government Museum in Cairo. He believed it to be the mummy of an ancient Egyptian King. The mummy was reported to have come from a tomb in "the Fayum" near the River Nile, 75 miles south of Cairo.

The mummy was shipped to Indianapolis, Indiana, where it was picked up and put on display by a local doctor, Jospeh R. Evans, for a short period of time before being brought the 70 miles east to its home at Earlham in time for everyone to see during commencement.

The mummy was rescued from a fire in 1924. Lindley Hall, which housed the museum, burned to the ground. The mummy and several other items were carried out of the burning building by students. The mummy was then stored in the attic of another building on campus until the current museum was built in 1952.

In 1979, the mummy was taken to Reid Memorial Hospital to be x-rayed. These indicated that the mummy was actually a woman, approximately 5 ft. tall and about 20-22 years old at the time of her death. Growth arrest lines in both her tibiae and fermora indicate that there were times in her life when either food was scarce, she was sick, or both. She has all of her teeth, including her wisdom teeth, and they show appropriate wear for her age and the very gritty diet of the time. The x-rays also show that her ribs, vertebrae and clavicles are not in the anatomically correct position. We don't know why. Another fact worth noting is that her head and its wrappings are not attached to her body. Again, we don't know why.

The hieroglyphs on the top of her coffin indicate that her name was Ta'an, meaning "beautiful one" and that she was the daughter of a priest of the Egyptian god "Min" in the ancient town of Ipu. She lived during the Greco-Roman period and probably died between 200 B.C. and 100 A.D.


stone ax

This stone ax has a stone head which weighs several pounds. This stone was sharpened and had a groove where one could tie it to a stick - as it is done here with leather straps. It could be used as a weapon or a tool.

 

 

birdstone

This is a birdstone, missing its head, is from the Ohio or Indiana area. It is carved out of grained slate and although you cannot see it in this picture, there are two holes drilled through, one at the base of the head and one at the base of the tail. It is thought that this would allow someone to tie the stone to something, such as a headband or canoe decoration. It's not really known what these are for. We received this one in 1882.


pipe

This is a pipe from Puget Sound carved by the Haida indians. It is also missing a head. Note how much detail they managed to get out of a rock - it must take lots of skill to carve rock so well.



goblet

This wooden goblet, found in the Middle East in 1915, was carved from a stick.










lamp

This Roman lamp dates from 200 BC and was found in Carthage. Note the detail in the pottery and the soot around the spout, indicating that it has been used.







clay tablet

This is a small Babylonian clay tablet acquired shortly before World War 1. We have another Babylonian clay tablet that was translated. We found that it was a temple record of sheep and oxen delivered to the temple on the third day of the month in the year 2350 BC. Do you think that the temple priests intended for that bit of data to survive for over 4000 years?

 

 

 

shield

 

This painted shield is from the South Pacific. It is apparently made out of all natural materials, such as plant fiber and wood. On the back, there is a strap made of plant fiber which could be used to hold it. It is curiously foreshortened because it is leaning against a wall. It is about five feet high and less than a foot wide.