Woke museum chiefs stop calling embalmed Egyptian dead ‘mummies’
WOKE museum chiefs have stopped referring to embalmed ancient Egyptian dead as mummies.
Chiefs at the British Museum in London say it is dehumanising to the person’s memory.
They are now called “mummified person” or “mummified remains”.
The collection contains bodies going back as far as 5,500 years.
And at Newcastle’s Great North Museum: Hancock, a mummified woman will be known only by her name Irtyru.
The word is linked to horror films such as smash hit The Mummy.
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The word mummy has been used in English since at least 1615.
Some say it has a colonial past, being derived from “mummiya”, the Arabic word for the the bitumen used as an embalming substance.
Critics blasted the new terms.
Campaign for Real Education’s Chris McGovern said: “The curse of the mummy is driving these academics mad!”
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British Museum said its displays “emphasised that mummified remains are of people who once lived”.