In Ptolemaic and Roman times, the embalmers often added a stabilizing element when wrapping the mummy. This could be a wooden board placed under the body, or individual sticks that were inserted directly into the body.
This mummy shows a stick that the embalmers had pushed from the thorax along the cervical vertebrae to the palate of the upper jaw. Based on the cross-section, the material of the stick can be determined more precisely: it is the woody middle rib of a date leaf.
Described parts of the mummy’s head: mask, crown of justification, linen wrapping, skull, balm, stick, coffin base.
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