About

The Centre currently plays host to a multidisciplinary team of academic staff and research students experienced in the fields of bioarchaeology and Egyptology.

Partners

We have established links with many national and international museums, bioarchaeological institutions and research centres committed to furthering our knowledge of mummified remains.

We work closely with a number of partner organisations including the Manchester Museum and the Egypt Exploration Society.

Our history

Mummy studies at The University of Manchester date back to 1907 when Dr Margaret Murray undertook one of the first interdisciplinary studies on two Middle Kingdom mummies at the Manchester Museum known as the Two Brothers.

They were systematically unwrapped and dissected by specialists in the fields of chemistry, anatomy and textiles to produce a detailed physical examination which accompanied the archaeological study of their tomb assemblage.

This area of research was reinstated in 1975 by Professor Rosalie David OBE and the Manchester Mummy Project on the other Egyptian mummified remains at the Museum, followed by the establishment of the Ancient Mummy Tissue Bank in 1997 which collated the study of mummies in museum collections.

In the years following these studies, techniques for researching mummified remains have improved and physical unwrappings have become a thing of the past.

To further such research, the KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology was officially opened in 2003 by His Royal Highness, the Earl of Wessex, and was designated a Centre for Excellence in 2004 by The University of Manchester.

Find out more about our research and the people working in the Centre.