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Westminster College Charter Member of Akhmim Studies Consortium
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. -- Westminster College is a charter member of the Akhmim Studies Consortium, which will research items related to Egypt's historic Akhmim region and its relationship to the art and culture of Ptolemaic Egypt.The consortium was established recently at the Reading Public Museum."For years we have been seeking a vehicle to disseminate research on our mummy," said Dr. Sam Farmerie, curator of cultural artifacts. "This is a great opportunity to share with other scholars, both nationally and internationally."Pesed, Westminster's 2,300-year-old mummy donated by The Rev. John Giffen, an 1872 Westminster graduate who was working as a missionary in Egypt, has already been CT scanned. The mummy was professionally restored by Jane Gardner of the Carnegie Museum thanks to the energy and fundraising effort of Susan Grandy Graff, a 1985 Westminster graduate who tackled the project during her undergraduate years."Work on Reading's mummy has already shed additional light on the mummy in Westminster's collection," said Dr. Jonathan Elias, project director. "It's exciting to contemplate how far additional work may take us in understanding the people of ancient Akhmim and Egypt more generally."Akhmim Studies Consortium has established the "Mummy Scanning Initiative," which is committed to expanding our knowledge of Akhmim's people through CT scan-based evaluation of its mummies," Elias continued. "Mummy research has never been so regionally-focused. The potential contribution to science is enormous, as no fewer than 25 Akhmimic mummies have come into American collections since the mid-1880s."For the past few decades Pesed has settled down and watched students study in the Mack Science Library from her glass enclosed display. She is believed to be the mummy of Lady Pesed Ma Rheres, young and single daughter of Heshor, priest of Khem, and his wife the Lady Urt. Khem was a small Egyptian town on the Nile near the present city of Luxor. The mummy was excavated from the city of Akhmim, about 235 miles south of Cairo.Founded in 1852 and related to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Westminster College is ranked among national leaders in graduation rate performance, according to U.S. News Guide to America's Best Colleges. The nearly 1,600 students choose from 40 majors and participate in some 100 campus organizations.Visit Westminster College: www.westminster.edu "