There are over 110,000 Egyptian objects in the British Museum and less than 5% of those are on display. Last Thursday, the MA Supervisor for Egyptian Archaeology at UCL, Dr. Richard Bussman, arranged for all MA Egyptian Archaeology students to get a private tour of the Egyptian “stores” of these objects in various places behind the scenes (and even in the basement) of the British Museum. This post will describe that tour.
Our tour was given by the curator and assistant keeper of Egyptian artifacts, Richard Parkinson. We had to put our coats and bags in a locked closet before we could go on the tour (I imagine this was to prevent people from “accidentally” going home with one or more smaller items that somehow might find their way into the pockets of said garments). Then we started off with a brief tour of the Egyptian library.
We were told over and over how the British Museum is for public access and anyone could for any reason see any item in the British Museum with an appointment. In fact, there have been only a few times that people were denied. One of those was a lady who said she was “Nefertiti” and could prove it because she had a birthmark between her breasts. She disrobed to prove it and naturally was arrested and not allowed to see any artifact.
After the Library, we went to the “Organic Store”. NOTE: this was not a place to shop for healthfood but rather the storage area for organic material – yes, that includes mummies, lots and lots of mummies! I was completely astounded at the amount of large wooden coffins, stacked up on rolling metal shelves at depth and height like that of a wholesale home improvement store back in America. Also in this room are rows of very tall cabinets with locked drawers holding all sorts of organic tidbits. The room is carefully conditioned so the environment is as suitable as possible for the preservation of these materials and the lights are rarely on (except when necessary). Every precaution is taken to ensure that these materials last as long as possible.
Following that we were taken through the maze of halls and stairways and workrooms to the “Papyrus Store”. When we arrived at the store I was surprised at its “oldness”. Unlike the modern Organic Store, this store room had a feeling of age. It is a very narrow long hall-like room with tall wooden narrow shelves floor-to-ceiling with framed papyrus standing vertical 5-10 in a shelf along the left wall and horizontal shelves along the right for framed papyrus that is too delicate to stand vertical. We were shown notable papyrus and informed on the various methods used throughout time to mount them and preserve them.
In the hall outside of the store was a very large section of the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus. It is covered with a canvas to keep it from the light. We were shown how bleached and faded a section is that was on display compared to the rest. The result is astounding and terrible! Another papyrus that was in the store had a large section of the yellow paint almost completely faded to nothing compared with another section simply because of the light that it had been exposed to while on display! It reminded us how much damage light can do over time.
We had a brief stop-over in the room with rare books and records. It was a much smaller room but just looking at the old books and reports was cool! We were reminded (as we were throughout the tour) how incompetent Wallace Budge was. In this room we were told how he purposely recorded false information to manipulate the system. By the end of the tour I felt vindicated for my feelings of his work. I have not trusted Budge or any of his books for some time now – after seeing and hearing what he did in these sorts of instances and the sloppiness and downright misleading work that was a trademark of his, I have even more reason to continue with that opinion.
Our last stop was in the basement where the “Stone Store” is located. We walked in to a very “basement” looking long hall with a screen for a wall opposite us, which is where the majority of the stone items are housed. The hall was lined on the right with a great many large stone statues set up as soldier-guardians of the place. It was, in itself, quite an impressive sight! We walked through a doorway beyond the screen to where the majority of stone items were located. The areas between foundation pillars are walled-off from each other by the shelving that holds a myriad of stone objects. But whether the artifacts are on a shelf or on the floor (due to size) everything is on, at least, a wooden platform to avoid any damage water might have on them from leaking (this is England after all).
The whole experience was awe-inspiring and left me with an appreciation for the work done to preserve these ancient materials and the effort to be as accurate and accessible as possible. Everything is delicate, everything is precious (as nothing can ever be replaced). I could spend a thousand lifetimes examining all of this and be very happy.
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