Programs & Events

The Spurlock Museum welcomes physical/forensic anthropologist Dr. David Hunt to the Knight Auditorium. Currently Collections Manager of the Physical Anthropology Division at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, his early museum career included time as a student worker at the World Heritage Museum. Dr. Hunt will talk about the two-year investigation that led to the identification of the remains of a boy whose corpse and coffin were discovered while digging a gas line in Washington D.C.

Over two decades ago, extensive research was done to gather as much information as possible on the ancient Egyptian mummy that had entered the Museum’s collections. Still, questions like “Is it a boy or a girl?” have persisted. A multi-disciplinary team was gathered to increase our knowledge of this child through the performance of updated medical techniques during the spring of 2011. At this event, a panel of experts will discuss the new techniques applied in this study and will reveal the information gathered.

Members of the panel include Dr. David Hunt, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution; Dr. Allan Campbell, Clinical Professor of Pathology and Dermatology, UICOMP and Senior Dermatopathology Consultant for the Peoria-Tazewell Pathology Group, S.C.; Dr. Emily Teeter, Research Associate, The Oriental Institute Museum, The University of Chicago; Dr. Carter Lupton, Egyptologist, Milwaukee Public Museum; Dr. Jonathan Elias, Director of the Akhmim Mummy Studies Consortium; and Dr. Sarah Wisseman, Director, Program on Ancient Technologies and Archaeological Materials, Illinois State Archaeological Survey; and Dr. Joseph Barkmeier, Medical Director of Diagnostic Services of Carle Foundation Hospital and Carle Physician Group. Dr. Wisseman was the project coordinator of the first mummy study in 1990–1991 and is author of The Virtual Mummy, which documents this research. This event is co-sponsored by the Program on Ancient Technologies and Archaeological Materials and the Dr. Allan C. Campbell Family Distinguished Speaker Series, with research funded in part through the Richard and Barbara Faletti Gallery of African Cultures Fund.