| Summary: | Unwrapped mummified human remains of an ancient Egyptian woman, approximately 4,000 years old. The woman lies with her arms folded across her chest. Because the linen wrappings were removed in 1894 by the Bridgeport Scientific Society, the body appears much like a skeleton, though very dark due to age and the resin used in the mummification process. The mummified body, along with a coffin which has recently been proven not to have belonged with this individual, was displayed for decades at the Barnum Museum. The remains and coffin have not been exhibited at the Barnum Museum since 2010, but visitors often report that seeing her is a particular memory of their past visits to the museum, sometimes from very long ago. Interpretative information about the mummy began to shift dramatically starting in 2006 when medical diagnostic imaging revealed the remains were not a 60-year-old male priest named Pa-Ib, as was indicated by hieroglyphics on the coffin. In fact these remains were not male at all, but rather those of a young woman about 30 to 40 years old. We do not know who she was, and for cataloging purposes the Museum made the conscious choice to refer to her as "Unknown Egyptian woman." However, the name "Ipy" has been assigned for easy reference in conversation as well as to create a sense of her personhood as we learn more about what her life may have been like. The full biography of the unknown Egyptian woman as we are currently know it is available to the public and reveals a fascinating story of discovery; the document can be viewed on the Connecticut Digital Archive by clicking on "Egyptian Mummy and Coffin" while browsing the Barnum Museum's collections page. Briefly, the remains and coffin entered the museum's collections in 1894, a gift from P.T. Barnum's second wife, Nancy Fish Barnum, to the Bridgeport Scientific Society, original tennants of the Barnum Institute of Science and History (now the Barnum Museum) in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Mrs. Barnum had been presented with them by the American consul ...
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