poison to keep out pests. In 1986, however, when the 

 most recent renovation of the Egyptian exhibit began, 

 the case was no longer airtight; access was still limited 

 to one door, hut the Hall J cases were not climate- 

 controlled as in today's exhibit. As for the poison sup- 

 posed to be in the case — was it lethal to humans? Prob- 

 ably not. The major target of the poison was moths, 

 dermestid beetles, and such, suggesting that mothballs 

 or similar chemicals had been used. And there had al- 

 ways been a certain amount of human traffic into the 

 case, as curators, scholars, and maintenance staff did 

 whatever they had to do. To be sure, between 1933 and 

 1986 — more than half a century — there were some 

 changes in the mummy case. For instance, a layer of 

 sand was poured over the linoleum floor, presumably to 

 lend a more authentic "Egyptian" look. The basic 

 arrangement o( exhibited materials, however, was lit- 

 tle changed. 



The mummy most readily suggested by Field's 

 description is not Harwa, but that of a boy (cat. 

 30017), which was removed from the exhibit some 

 years ago. This unwrapped boy's mummy (fig. 2) had 

 been on exhibit in 1933, at the time of the alleged inci- 

 dent. His location was on a trestle, near the case door. 

 He was long thought to have been the occupant of a 

 small coffin (cat. 30016), identified as belonging to a 

 boy named Hori — a convenient assumption because of 

 the sequence of the catalog numbers. In 1986 Hori's 

 coffin was near the door, suggesting that the un- 

 wrapped boy's mummy was also near the door, a 

 juxtaposition I have been able to confirm. 



2. Mummy of boy, 12-13 years old. This mummy was removed from exhibit several years ago. 49564 



MEDfmJIANEAN SEA 



ANCIENT EGYPT 



