Mexican government says the arm of a 19th century mummy came off after mishandling by museum staff

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s federal archeology agency on Monday accused the conservative-ruled city of Guanajuato of mistreating one of the country’s famous 19th-century mummified bodies.

The National Institute of Anthropology and History, INAH, said that during recent renovations at the museum where the mummified bodies are permanently displayed, one of the mummies, well, had its arm detached.

One might think that the complaint has to do with the dignified treatment of bodies buried in the early 19th century and unearthed from the 1860s onwards, because their families could no longer pay burial fees.

But in fact, the mummies have been on somewhat gruesome display in glass display cases in a museum in Guanajuato, the capital of the state of the same name, and displayed at tourism fairs for decades. Some were exhibited in the United States in 2009.

What appears to be at the root of the latest dispute is a territorial battle between INAH, which believes it has jurisdiction over the mummies because it says they are “national heritage,” and Guanajuato, which considers them a tourist attraction. The state and city are governed by the conservative National Action Party, which the Morena party – which holds power at the federal level – considers its archenemy.

On Monday, the institute said it would require an accounting of the permits and procedures that were followed during the museum’s renovations.

“These facts confirm that the way in which the museum collection was transferred is not correct, and that far from applying adequate corrective and conservation strategies, the actions carried out resulted in damage, not only to this body,” the institute wrote in a statement. .

He did not say what, if any, other mummy fragments had fallen out.

“It appears that this situation is related to the lack of knowledge about the proper protocols and the lack of training of the personnel in charge of carrying out these tasks,” he continued.

The Guanajuato city government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The preserved corpses were unintentionally mummified when they were buried in crypts in a dry, mineral-rich soil environment in the mining state of Guanajuato. Some still have their hair, leathery skin and their original clothing.

The institute seemed upset that Guanajuato staff, not the institute’s own staff, are in charge of the approximately 100 mummies. In part because they were mostly unearthed before the institute was founded in 1939, they remain under local control, something that has irritated federal officials in the past.

In 2023, experts at the institute complained that a traveling mummy exhibit could pose a health risk to the public, because one of the mummies appeared to have fungal growths.

It is not the first time that the dire situation of a long-dead person has become a national political issue.

In 1989, the Mexican government withstood a wave of criticism after revolutionary general Álvaro Obregón’s arm – severed in battle in 1915 – was removed after it had been displayed in a jar of formaldehyde in a marble monument for half a century. Visitors said it had become “unsightly”, so the arm was cremated and buried.

In 1838, Antonio López de Santa Anna, who was president of Mexico 11 times, lost a leg in battle and had it buried with honors. In 1844, an angry mob who accused him of treason dragged the leg through the streets of Mexico City and apparently destroyed it.

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