en

The mummy of a child from Hawara: comparison of its portrait with radiological examination results

2025, 34, No. 1

Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw Institute of History of Art

Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Institute of History of Art

Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Department of Conservation; American Research Center in Egypt

Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Department of Training and Scientific Publishing

Ciechanów Hospital, Department of Orthopedic Surgery

Jagiellonian University Medical College, Chair and Department of Radiology

Medical University of Gdańsk, Department of Forensic Medicine

Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Institute of Biological Science

Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Department of Graeco-Roman Antiquities


Publication date

31.12.2025

Submission date

13.03.2025

Acceptance date

07.09.2025

Publishing model

open access

License type


Field

Humanities

Discipline

archeology

Language of publication

English

Downloads

PDF 2 MB

Article

Number of views:84

Number of downloads:105

Crossref citations:0

Altmetric score:0


Abstract

The subject of this paper is the mummy of a child with a “Fayum portrait” discovered by Petrie at Hawara and housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The research focused on three goals: confirmation of the presence of a mummified body within the wrappings; comparison of the sex and age determined by radiological examinations with those depicted in the portrait; and assessment of whether the portrait was painted from life or based on a standard type produced in a particular workshop. Radiological examinations of the mummy were carried out using radiography and computed tomography, followed by anthropological analyses. They confirmed that the body belonged to a girl, while the portrait itself does not provide clear evidence of sex. The age estimated on the basis of radiological examinations is lower than that suggested by the portrait. The overall analysis indicates that it is rather unlikely that the portrait was painted “from a model”. Since most of the so-called “Fayum portraits” were detached from mummies in the past, this study concerns a rare and valuable example of an intact child mummy still wrapped in bandages with its portrait preserved, allowing for a comprehensive interdisciplinary analysis.

Keywords:

Bibliography

AlQahtani, S.J., Hector, M.P., and Liversidge, H.M. (2010). Brief communication: The London atlas of human tooth development and eruption. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 142(3), 481–490

Angel, J.L. (1978). Restoration of head and face for identification. Paper presented at the 30th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, St Louis, MO

Bernert, Z., Évinger, S., and Hajdu, T. (2007). New data on the biological age estimation of children using bone measurements based on historical populations from the Carpathian Basin. Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici, 99, 199–206

Boccone, S., Micheletti Cremasco, M., Bortoluzzi, S., Moggi-Cecchi, J., and Rabino Massa, E. (2010). Age estimation in subadult Egyptian remains. HOMO, 61(5), 337–358

Borg, B. (1996). Mumienporträts: Chronologie und kultureller Kontext. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern

Borg, B. (1998). “Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt—”: ägyptische Porträtmumien. Mainz am Rhein: Phillip von Zabern

Corcoran, L.H. (1995). Portrait mummies from Roman Egypt (I–IV centuries A.D.): With a catalog of portrait mummies in Egyptian museums (=Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 56). Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago

Corcoran, L.H. (2021). “They leave behind them portraits of their wealth, not themselves”: Aspects of self-presentation in the dress of the deceased in mummy portraits and portrait mummies from Roman Egypt. In A.J. Batten and K. Olson (eds), Dress in Mediterranean antiquity: Greeks, Romans, Jews, Christians (pp. 125–137). London–New York: T&T Clark

Cormack, R. (1997). Painting the soul: Icons, death masks, and shrouds. London: Reaktion Books

Doxiadis, E. (1995). The mysterious Fayum portraits: Faces from ancient Egypt. New York: H.N. Abrams

Edgar, C.C. (1905). Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire. Nos 33101–33285: Graeco-Egyptian coffins, masks and portraits. Cairo: Institut français d’archéologie orientale

Fluck, C. and Finneiser, K. (2009). Kindheit am Nil: Spielzeug, Kleidung, Kinderbilder aus Ägypten in den Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin. Berlin: Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Germer, R., Kischkewitz, H., and Lüning, M. (1994). Pseudo-Mumien der ägyptischen Sammlung Berlin. Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur, 21, 81–94

Hartnett, J. (2012). Faces past: Ancient imaginations and the craft of social history. The 33rd LaFollette Lecture. Retrieved from https://www.wabash.edu/news/docs/2012_Hartnett.pdf (accessed: 10.03.2025)

Helmbold-Doyé, J. (2017). Das Mädchen mit dem Mumienporträt. In J. Helmbold-Doyé (ed.), Aline und ihre Kinder: Mumien aus dem römerzeitlichen Ägypten (=Ägypten im Blick 2) (pp. 50–51). Wiesbaden: Reichert

Helmer, R.P. (1984). Schädelidentifizierung durch elektronische Bildmischung: zugleich ein Beitrag zur Konstitutionsbiometrie und Dickenmessung der Gesichtsweichteile. Heidelberg: Kriminalistik-Verlag

Kwiatkowska, B. (2017). Wyznaczniki stresu fizjologicznego na materiale szkieletowym (Indices of stress on the skeletal material). In A. Siniarska and M. Kopczyński (eds), Budowa fizyczna człowieka na ziemiach polskich wczoraj i dziś (pp. 131–146). Warsaw: Muzeum Historii Polski

Lewis, M.E. (2007). The bioarchaeology of children: Perspectives from biological and forensic anthropology (=Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology 50). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Liu, J., Wilkinson, C., Roch, A., Zesch, S., Mussauer, A., Paladin, A., and Zink, A. (2022). Facial depiction of a Roman period mummy with portrait from the Fayoum Oasis, Egypt. Poster presented at the 10th World Congress on Mummy Studies in Bolzano

Loth, S.R. and Henneberg, M. (2001). Sexually dimorphic mandibular morphology in the first few years of life. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 115(2), 179–186

Manhein, M.H., Listi, G.A., Barsley, R.E., Musselman, R., Barrow, N.E., and Ubelaker, D.H. (2000). In vivo facial tissue depth measurements for children and adults. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 45(1), 48–60

Nerlich, A.G., Fischer, L., Panzer, S., Bicker, R., Helmberger, T., and Schoske, S. (2020). The infant mummy’s face—Paleoradiological investigation and comparison between facial reconstruction and mummy portrait of a Roman-period Egyptian child. PLoS ONE, 15(9), e0238427.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238427

Nowicka, M. (1984). Z problematyki portretów mumiowych (On the subject of mummy portraits). Archeologia, 35, 33–50

Parlasca, K. (1966). Mumienporträts und verwandte Denkmäler. Wiesbaden: Steiner

Parlasca, K. (1969). Repertorio d’arte dell’Egitto greco-romano. Serie B, I. Rome: “L’Erma” di Bretschneider

Petrie, W.M.F. (1889). Hawara, Biahmu, and Arsinoe. London: Field & Tuer, The Leadenhall Press

Petrie, W.M.F. (n.d.). Notebook 36, Hawara. Unpubl. manuscript in the Petrie Museum Archives

Pharr, C. (ed.). (1952). The Theodosian code and novels and the Sirmondian constitutions. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press

Prag, A.J.N.W. (2002). Proportion and personality in the Fayum portraits. British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan, 3, 55–63

Roberts, P. (2007). An archaeological context for British discoveries of mummy portraits in the Fayum. In J. Picton, S. Quirke, and P. Roberts (eds), Living images: Egyptian funerary portraits in the Petrie Museum (pp. 13–72). Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press

Schaefer, M., Black, S.M., and Scheuer, L. (2009). Juvenile osteology: A laboratory and field manual. Amsterdam: Academic Press

Scheuer, L. and Black, S.M. (2000). Developmental juvenile osteology. San Diego, CA: Academic Press

Svoboda, M. and Cartwright, C.R. (eds). (2020). Mummy portraits of Roman Egypt: Emerging research from the APPEAR Project. Retrieved from https://www.getty.edu/publications/mummyportraits/ (accessed: 10.03.2025)

Walker, S. and Bierbrier, M.L. (1997). Ancient faces: Mummy portraits from Roman Egypt. London: British Museum Press

Wilkinson, C. (2004). Forensic facial reconstruction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Similar publications