The face of the Wayne County Historical Museum's mummy hasn't been seen for thousands of years, but soon area residents will be able to watch as a forensic artist reconstructs its features.
Brenda Robertson Stewart is an Indianapolis painter, sculptor and forensic artist, specializing in reconstructing skulls for identification purposes, generally in crimes.
However, she is donating her skills to the museum to bring to life the face of the museum's mummy.
"I'm very excited about it," Stewart said. "How many people get to work on somebody 3,000 years old?"
Museum founder Julia Meek Gaar purchased the mummy during a 1929 visit to Cairo, Egypt. She was told the mummy had been on exhibition in a curio store for 40 years before the shop owner decided to sell it to her.
In 2006 and 2007, museum volunteer Bonnie M. Sampsell used her Egyptology studies, research and her multiple trips to Egypt to uncover many of the mummy's long-held secrets. The Richmond native now living in North Carolina discovered that the mummy -- long believed to be a priestess -- is a man, likely age 30 to 35. He was probably mummified in about 900 B.C.
It's Stewart's project now to uncover another of the mummy's secrets: what he looked like.
Some might think they already know, but the mask with which the mummy remains displayed today, is not a drawing of its face. Gaar purchased the mask separately. The image on the mummy's coffin isn't its own either. Sampsell said such coffins were made ahead of time, just like today, and the burial likely took place despite a woman being depicted on the coffin.
So, on her first visit to the museum, Stewart sought to see the mummy for itself. She perched the mummy's skull on a low pedestal and examined it carefully. She photographed the skull and measured several key points.
The measurement and photos will help her build a replica of the skull that will serve as the base for the reconstruction of the face. She expects building that replica to take about a month.
Once the replica skull is complete, Stewart will return to the museum to compare it to the real thing. After she is sure that the replica is correct, Stewart will begin reconstructing the face, working on it at the museum where visitors can watch the progress.
Museum executive director Jim Harlan is excited about the opportunity to give the mummy a face and to give the community a chance to watch the project. He was fascinated watching Stewart work and hearing her comments.
"He has a very low brow but it is not as prominent as males usually have. When forensic experts are determining the sex of a skeleton, they use the brow ridge and the pelvic bones," she said.
The mummy also has a long nasal spine.
"That means his nose stuck out," Stewart said. "It's really interesting."
She and Harlan looked at the mummy's teeth after she noticed that the one remaining canine tooth was loose. The other is missing, almost appearing to have been ripped out, roots and all.
"It's very strange," she said. "Maybe it was done in mummification."
In one of the mummy's remaining molars, there is a large cavity.
"He had a toothache," Stewart said.
"It hurts me to look at it," Harlan said.
Most of Stewart's forensic reconstruction work is sadly related to homicides. She didn't see any evidence of deadly trauma to the mummy's skull.
However, there is a tiny hole in the top of the skull that she cannot explain.
"It's like the head of a pin in size. It could've been a parasite," she said. "I think he probably had an injury there."
Stewart's efforts to make the mummy's face lifelike are being filmed by independent Indianapolis filmmaker Dan T. Hall, who got her involved in the project.
Hall did some filming in the museum as part of his paranormal documentary "Ghost Stories 2: Unmasking the Dead." The film shows how Hall, with the help of a psychic and team of paranormal investigators, made an attempt to communicate with the mummy.
Watching Stewart work, Hall was impatient for results.
"I want to see what it looks like right now," he said.
Reporter Rachel E. Sheeley: (765) 973-4458 or rsheeley@pal-item.com
