Mexican government says the arm of a 19th century mummy came off after mishandling by museum staff
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s federal archaeology agency on Monday accused the conservative-governed city of Guanajuato of mistreating one of the country’s famous mummified 19th century bodies.
The National Institute of Anthropology and History, INAH, said that during recent renovations at the museum where the mummified bodies are on permanent display, the arm of one of the mummies, well, came off.
One might think the complaint is all about the dignified treatment of corpses buried around the early 1800s and dug up starting in the 1860s, because their families could no longer pay burial fees.
But in fact, the mummies have been on a somewhat grisly display in glass cases in a museum in Guanajuato, the capital of the state of the same name, and toted around to tourism fairs for decades. Some were exhibited in the United States in 2009.