Mummies

Last month Professor Pierre Montet of Strasbourg created an archeological sensation when he announced, from San-el-Hagar on the Nile Delta, that he had found the funeral chamber and the mummy of one of the five kings named Sheshonk who ruled ancient Egypt during the 22nd Dynasty (TIME, April 3). It was suspected that this might be Sheshonk I, the conqueror who, according to the Old Testament, "came up against Jerusalem" and went away with all of Solomon's gold shields. Last week the mummy was identified by a "cartouche" (personal inscription) found on a breast ornament. It was indeed the body of shield-swiping Sheshonk I.

Another mummy which made news last week was that of Harwa, an agricultural official who was attached, some 2,800 years ago, to one of the God Amon's temples. Harwa was exhumed in Egypt some time ago and now belongs to Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History. Recently the General Electric X-Ray Corp. arranged to borrow him so that he could be fluoroscoped full length for the edification of visitors to the New York World's Fair. X-rays will penetrate the wrappings and dried flesh, pass on to create an image on a fluorescent screen, revealing to visitors the mummy's skeletal arrangement. General Electric X-Ray Corp. believes Harwa to be the first adult human body ever fluoroscoped in toto.*

Last week Harwa journeyed to Manhattan by plane and his publicity-wise handlers saw to it that he got into a good deal of trouble. He was first evicted from a hotel, then from a performance of the mad musicomedy Hellzapoppin, and finally, while being taken to a General Electric X-Ray Corp. office, got caught in a revolving door.

*Full-length X-ray photographs of living adults have been made for medical demonstration purposes.

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