lewis, a. et al. babies on board. 2010

8/3/2019 Lewis, A. Et Al. Babies on Board. 2010

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Inside The Conservator's Art

A behind-the-scenes look at conserving Egyptian artifacts at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum ofAnthropology

http://conservationblog.hearstmuseum.dreamhosters.com/?p=230

{ 2009 12 14 }

Babies on board

A close look at unwrapped crocodile mummy PAHMA 5-513 reveals a surprise—a mass of juvenilecrocodiles placed on the back of the large crocodile.

PAHMA 5-513.

Baby crocodiles on the back of PAHMA 5-513.

The young crocodiles appear to have been tied between pairs of wooden rods with loops of single ply S-twist cordage.



PAHMA 5-513,baby crocodile head tied to wooden stick.

Mounted thus, the babies and their sticks were placed on the large crocodile, coated with anotherapplication of embalming fluid, and the entire unit was wrapped with linen bandages.

PAHMA 5-513, baby crocodiles tied to wooden elements and coated with black embalming material.



PAHMA 5-513, baby crocodile head with snout tied to stick and impressions of textile wrapping preserved in coating on top of head.

There are other examples of mummification of young crocodiles, crocodile eggs, and even “family” groupscombining adults and juvenile crocodiles like the PAHMA mummy. Another mummy in the museum’scollection, 5-512, also consists of a larger crocodile with babies on its back. There are similar mummies atUppsala University in Sweden and at the British Museum. The dedication of baby crocodiles and crocodileeggs probably related to Sobek’s regenerative/fertility aspects.

Recently biologists Carol Spencer and Michelle Koo from the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at UCBerkeley visited the lab to take a look at the mummy group and weigh in about age, sex, etc. Theyconfirmed that although adult Nile crocodiles can reach much larger sizes, this one is big enough to havebeen a sexually mature adult. The small size of the baby crocodiles, about 20 cm in length, suggests that

they had only recently hatched.



Baby crocodile from the mass of juveniles on the back of adult crocodile (5-513).

The number of babies on the back of PAHMA 5-513 (30 that I can count, with traces of others below theblack coating) is consistent with the reproductive behavior of Nile crocodiles, who lay an average of about40-60 eggs at a time. (Fun side note: I learned from Carol and Michelle that mother crocodiles can controlthe gender of their unhatched offspring by regulating the temperature of the incubating eggs. They do thisby adding insulating material to the nest.) The placement of the juveniles on the adult’s back is alsoconsistent with real-world crocodile behavior. Baby Nile crocodiles really do hitch a ride on their mother’sback in the wild.

Unfortunately we couldn’t confirm that “mom” is in fact a female. The black embalming fluid that coversmuch of the crocodile also obscures diagnostic anatomical features on the underside of the crocodile’sbody.



Underside of 5-513 (reflected in a mirror) with black embalming material obscuring anatomy.

The black coating may also conceal any incision created to eviscerate (remove internal organs from) theadult crocodile. So far we have not been able to determine whether the large crocodile was eviscerated ornot.

The small crocodiles on their splints were originally held in place by the embalming fluid that coats thecrocodile skin surfaces and by now-lost textile wrappings. Because the wrappings were removed and theblack embalming material has deteriorated, some of the juvenile crocodiles are no longer firmly attached tothe adult. A modern brass or copper wire was wrapped around the mummy after its excavation, and is nowall that holds some of the babies in place. The small crocodile bodies are not as well-preserved as that ofthe adult, probably due to more cursory mummification procedures. They have become embrittled andmany have broken, necessitating reconstruction. Repairing and reattaching the babies in appropriatelocations will be a major component of the mummy’s conservation treatment.

Posted by Allison on Monday, December 14, 2009, at 10:00 am. Filed under Conservation treatments,Mummies and mummification, Uncategorized. Follow any responses to this post with its comments RSS feed. You can post a comment or trackback from your blog.

lewis, a. et al. babies on board. 2010

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