Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art · other

Shrew Mummy Bundle

Source of record: Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

Description

Object Label: Shrews and ichneumons both prey on snakes and therefore won the Egyptians’ admiration and worship. Though snakes could turn their powers to protecting kings and queens, serpents also threatened the sun god Re on his journey through the next world. Egyptian religion made room for both the positive and negative aspects of certain animals. The shrew mummy bundle shows that more than one animal was sometimes included in one package. Caption: Shrew Mummy Bundle, 664–30 B.C.E.. Animal remains (Crocidura flavescens, C. nana, C. olivieri, or C. religiosa), linen, 2 15/16 x 8 1/4 x 4 3/4 in., 1 lb. (7.5 x 21 x 12.1 cm, 0.45kg). Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Museum Collection, X1179.2. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

AI image analysis GPT-4o-2024-08-06

Machine-generated from the object's image on May 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.

X-ray image of a mummified object.

This image depicts an X-ray view of what appears to be a mummified object. The dense material suggests organic or textile wrapping and potential small inclusions. Such imaging is typically used to study the inside of wrapped mummies or artifacts without unwrapping them.

photographic documentation unknown fragmentary
Materials unknown

Connections

Found at Egypt
Materials Fabric

Cross-references (2)

  • BKM-Accession X1179.2 tier-2
  • BKM-Object 184723 tier-2
About this record's data
  • From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
  • AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
  • Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
  • Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.