Thursday, December 10, 2015

Herbert Eustis Winlock

Name: I am the ghost of Herbert Eustis Winlock since I was born in 1884 and died in
                1950.
Occupation/known for: I am a world renowned Egyptologist and worked at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art climbing the ranks to Director in 1932.
·         I was a better Egyptologist and was better at excavations
·         I had to take the director’s position due to the Depression
·         Before I was Director of MMA I was Director of Excavations in Egypt
Accomplishments:
·         Found statue fragments of Queen Hatshepsut
·         Worked with Dr. J. Morton Howell
o   Which is the topic of why I am here today
·         I am here to tell you the story of how Dayton got a mummy
Dr. J. Morton Howell:
·         From Dayton
·         Doctor- specialized in children’s medicine & health
·         Author: wrote scientific, medical, and adventure books
·         Became U.S. Ambassador of Egypt 1922-1927
o   Appointed by President Harding
·         Brought Egyptology to Dayton
·         Arranged for two mummies to be brought to Dayton
o   I assisted him with shipping one mummy I found in 1922 at an excavation in Thebes. It was sent to the Dayton Society of Natural History (back in the 1920s & 30s it was still part of the Dayton Public Library)
o   Other mummy came from a French excavation in Deir el-Medina
Mummies:
·         late 1800s/early 1900s mummies were treated poorly and carelessly
·         some were displayed in private homes as center pieces or for show at dinner parties
·         Some were torn apart and different pieces were sold separately as tourist items and commodities
·         Some were destroyed from grave robbers
·         I reburied many of the mummies I found after taking intricate notes first, in order to preserve them and prevent these awful acts from happening
·         I was very happy to allow for and assist Dr. Howell in bringing a mummy to Dayton to be in a museum for educational and research purposes
Legalities involving antiquities during the 1920s
·         By the 1920s an Egyptian Antiquities law had been passed that prohibited giving antiquities to foreign officials (but it was still a bit flax)
·         There was still a ‘division of finds’ between the Egyptian govt. and foreign expeditions which allowed people like me on expeditions to donate finds
·         This is how I was able to give Howell a mummy for Dayton
Nesiur:
·         Mummy’s name is Nesiur (Esiur)
·         She was buried ca. 700 B.C. in a tomb near the Temple Deir el-Bahari
·         I gave Howell Nesiur, 4 limestone canopic jars, & a number of blue faience ushabtis (statues) to display at the museum.
o   Canopic jars: Baboon- lungs
·         Baboon-lungs
·         Human- liver
·         Jackal- stomach
·         Falcon- intestines
·         The canopic jars and faience statues are not from the same tomb as Nesiur but are from the same time period……I thought they would be good examples of burial goods to be displayed with Nesiur at the museum


Now the people of Dayton can learn about another far away culture and understand it a little better.

              Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, Dayton

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