Field Museum hopes new mummy exhibit will leave visitors rapt

It’s animal sacrifice time in ancient Egypt, and you’ve got your eye on a delightful, 100 percent genuine mummified cat.

Trouble is, you’re short on dough. So you opt for the hollow one — all bandages and no carcass.

Will the gods smite you for such impertinence?

Unlikely, says J. P. Brown, a conservator in the Field Museum’s Department of Anthropology. Fake or partial mummies were common two millennia ago.

“For instance, if your penis falls off while you’re getting mummified, they’ll give you a fake penis before you’re wrapped,” said Brown, wearing blue latex gloves Wednesday as he talked about a number of specimens that will feature in the Field Museum’s upcoming “Mummies” exhibit.

This isn’t the first time the museum has put its mummy collection on display, but this one promises a deeper look at mummification than the short-lived 2012 exhibit. It focuses on two cultures with rich traditions in mummification: Egypt and ancient Peru.

Animals feature prominently, including cats, a baby crocodile, a gazelle and two birds — all creatures that would have been sacrificed to a variety of gods, said Brown. Their wrappings, some 2,000 years old [or more], are the color of dried tobacco leaf. Animal meat, presumably to be eaten in the afterlife, was also mummified, as were Egyptian pets. Everything from dung beetles to hippos were considered suitable for mummification, Brown said.

But the animals on display here were intended for sacrifice — and not just by the elite of Egyptian society.

“This is the Lord & Taylor option,” Brown said, pointing to the mummified cat with the actual cat body inside, before gesturing at the hollow one. “This is the Wal-Mart option — something for people who couldn’t afford that much.”

Field scientists used CT scans to look behind the wrappings, allowing them to see, for instance, that the gazelle’s skull was unusually small — a feature common in animals bred in captivity. Brown says it’s likely Egyptians bred the gazelles specifically for mummification. Thousands of them have been discovered, he said.

Scans revealed that one of the cat-shaped mummies actually contained bird bones, some sand and a bit of leather, Brown said.

“My guess is that it’s a deliberate fraud to defraud the person who’s buying the mummy — sort of, they’ll never know the difference. [Or] It’s possible there’s some guy who has a beastly boss, and the boss is like, ‘Make me five more mummies by the end of the day!’ And he’s like, ‘We’re out of cats — what am I going to do?’”

Thankfully, though, bones were pretty easy to come by.

“We’re in an era when there isn’t municipal garbage,” Brown said. “You can basically step out back, get bones and wrap them.”

“Mummies” is set to open at the Field on March 16.