Between Spectacle and Science: Margaret Murray and the Tomb of the Two Brothers

Abstract

ArgumentThis article explores the history of mummy unwrappings in the West, culminating in Margaret Murray's public unrolling of two mummies in Manchester in 1908. Mummy unwrappings as a practice have shifted often between public spectacles which displayed and objectified exotic artifacts, and scientific investigations which sought to reveal medical and historical information about ancient life. Although others have looked at Murray's work in the context of the history of mummy studies, I argue that her work should be viewed culturally as poised between spectacle and science, drawing morbid public interest while also producing ground-breaking scientific work that continues to this day. Murray's main goal was to excite the interest of the public while at the same time educating them in the true history of ancient Egypt, while ascertaining new scientific information and contributing to the scholarly interpretations of ancient Egypt.

Mummy Stories

“…Later on, a Cairo-based British trio formed by Grafton Elliot Smith, Marc Armand Ruffer, and Alfred Lucas carried out important studies on ancient mummified remains, including the Royal mummies (Aufderheide, 2003). Around that time, Margaret Murray, while being the curator of Egyptology at the Manchester Museum, carried out the first interdisciplinary research of this kind, leading the way to other similar projects (Sheppard, 2012). New impetus to these studies was finally given by the creation of a mummy congress, active since 1992 and currently in its 10 th iteration (Fig.…”

Margaret Murray (1863–1963): Pioneer Egyptologist, Feminist and First Female Archaeology Lecturer

“…One of her most public activities took place in Manchester Museum in 1908 when she undertook (together with John Cameron) the unwrapping of a mummy, in front of an audience of five hundred ( Fig. 2; Murray, 1910;Sheppard, 2012).…”