Did You Know Oklahoma Has An Egyptian Mummy?

You know, as Oklahoma has somehow received that odd "flyover state" status, it really shows that not even the people living in Oklahoma know Oklahoma. For as "simple" as everyone seems to paint the state, there's a lot of rich diversity and art within our borders. Those are things nobody expects. Whether you check out the zoo in OKC, National Western Heritage and Cowboy Museum, Museum of Osteology, the amazing aquarium in Tulsa, and now you can add one more cultured stunner to that list... the art museum in Shawnee.

While the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art may be known more for their 3500 piece collection of fine art of the last 6000 years from around the world, the current talking point of that locale is the Egyptian collection now on display. Some outlets have described this collection as containing "some of most unique artifacts from Egyptian history" including two legit mummies. The famous one named Tutu - AKA - Princess Menne is adorned in all the fanciness you'd expect of an Egyptian mummified around 332 BCE... The guilded cartonnage face covering, missing organs, the list goes on... Curiously enough, the other mummy on display there came from a time over five hundred years later. She's an anonymous mummy with all of her organs still in tact. It's believe that she either didn't have the social status to have her organs removed and jarred, or perhaps, being the second century AD, as Roman influence flowed into Egypt, the practice of jarring organs became rare as Egyptians adopted a more modern burial practice of leaving a whole body in tact.

It's really pretty interesting. They have a bunch of art and artifacts on display too, and they're open during this pandemic. Tickets are limited, you must wear a mask, and social distance is paramount, but they are open for visitors. Here's the link to the official website for more information.