Mehit-em-Wesekht was a woman of modest status who lived in Ipu (now Akhmim) some 2300 years ago, during the Greek occupation of Egypt. She was 150 cm tall and died when she was around eighteen years old.
Mr Charles Rooking Carter bought Mehit’s coffin and mummy from the Egyptian government in 1885 and then gifted her to the Colonial Museum (now Te Papa). The Museum displayed her almost continuously for more than 100 years. Today, she needs a well-earned rest from the light and cannot be exhibited.
ATTENTION - Human remains under wraps!
Initially, Mehit was thought to be a male priest. Discover how Te Papa uncovered her true identity.
Coffin: Sycamore fig wood, gesso (plaster), gilt, pigments
Mummy: Linen, resin, human remains, cartonnage (linen, glue, plaster), gilt, pigments
Hellenistic Period, Dynasty of Ptolemy (about 300 BCE)
From Akhmim, Egypt
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, gift of Charles Rooking Carter, 1885
