Before his discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, it’s rumored that Howard Cater, the renowned Egyptologist, discovered another mummy in 1919. Known as either the Bashiri Mummy, the Mummy of Pacheri, or the “untouchable one,” this mummy was so intricately wrapped that researchers never unfurled it for fear of irreversible damage.
The fabric across the mummy's face is woven in an intricate pattern that resembles the base of a pyramid, and it may be the only known mummy to have used this embalming practice. Even though in the past, many researchers and non-researchers alike would unwrap Egyptian mummies for research and non-research purposes. Thankfully, today, other methods give us a better and more respectful look at what lies inside a sarcophagus.
Uncovering the Bashiri Mummy
According to some sources, Howard Cater found the Bashiri Mummy, or Mummy of Pacheri, in Luxor in the Valley of the Kings, the same area where Carter uncovered King Tut’s tomb only three years later. However, besides this, relatively little is known to scholars about this particular mummy. Even in the book Mummified: The Stories Behind Egyptian Mummies in Museums, Pacheri is referenced by several other names.
What was known for sure is that this mummy was discovered, and no researchers dared to unravel it to try and understand more, leading to one of its other monikers, the “untouchable one.” Thanks to modern technology, like X-rays and CT scans, we now know a little bit more about the Bashiri Mummy.
Read More: This 2,300-Year-Old Mummy Has a Heart (and Tongue) of Gold
Who Was the Bashiri Mummy?
Before the advent of X-ray and computed tomography (CT) technology, researchers used to unwrap mummies to study them, causing untold amounts of damage. Now with this technology, researchers can peer under the dressings without damaging anything and respect the dead.
After scanning the Bashiri Mummy, researchers determined that this was the mummy of an adult man who stood about 5.5 feet tall and lived during the Ptolemaic Era, which lasted from 305 B.C.E to 30 B.C.E., making this mummy around 2,300 years old. According to the Egypt Museum, the X-ray scan also revealed an inscription of the man’s name, though it’s hard to decipher if Pacheri or Nenu are written. This only adds another layer to the mystery.
The Egypt Museum also noted that the ornate encasement that the mummy has been in was decorated with “various scenes arranged in registers, notably the mummy lying on a bed, surrounded by the goddesses Isis and Nephtys, and the four sons of Horus. Finally, the casing around the feet has two images of the funerary god Anubis.”
The care and detail that went into this mummy’s embalming have indicated that whoever he was, he was someone of importance.
How Modern Tech Preserves Mummies
The Bashiri Mummy, or Mummy of Pacheri, is far from the first mummy that researchers analyzed with an X-ray or CT scan. A 2021 study in Frontiers discussed how a CT scan helped researchers better understand the Mummy of King Amenhotep I without having to unwrap it physically. A 2024 study in Frontiers in Medicine used 2D and 3D CT images that uncovered a 3,500-year-old mummified woman likely died screaming.
However, before modern technology, researchers often damaged the mummies they found while studying them.
According to the American Museum of Natural History, “In the past, the only way to learn about a mummy was to unwrap it. But this widespread practice destroyed the mummy, often detaching body parts.”
But that’s not the worst of it. There was a time in Europe that lasted from the 12th to 19th century when people would grind up mummies and consume them for medical purposes. Even after that fell out of favor, the Victorians used to purchase mummies and host “unwrapping parties” with their friends.
Luckily, there are now less harmful and more respectful ways to study Ancient Egypt’s past. Perhaps there will one day be a technology that will shed more light on the life of the Bashiri Mummy, or Mummy of Pacheri.
Read More: Causes of Death for the ‘Screaming Woman’ Mummy Still Remain a Mystery
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
Daily Mail. 'Untouchable' Egyptian mummy shrouded in secrets that no scientist wants to disturb
Angela Stienne. Mummified: The Stories Behind Egyptian Mummies in Museums
Egypt Museum. Mummy of Pacheri
Frontiers. Digital Unwrapping of the Mummy of King Amenhotep I (1525–1504 BC) Using CT
Frontiers in Medicine. Paleoradiological and scientific investigations of the screaming woman mummy from the area beneath Senmut’s (1479–1458 BC) Theban tomb (TT71)
American Museum of Natural History. Educator's Guide Mummies
The Conversation. Why did people start eating Egyptian mummies? The weird and wild ways mummy fever swept through Europe
A graduate of UW-Whitewater, Monica Cull wrote for several organizations, including one that focused on bees and the natural world, before coming to Discover Magazine. Her current work also appears on her travel blog and Common State Magazine. Her love of science came from watching PBS shows as a kid with her mom and spending too much time binging Doctor Who.
