Chilling details about the 2 child mummies exhibited in Kayseri.

In Kayseri, two child mummies believed to belong to the Eastern Roman Period, found in the Boğazköprü area in 1927, are preserved in the Kayseri Archaeology Museum just like the first day.

During the construction of the Kayseri-Ankara highway in the Boğazköprü area of Kocasinan district in 1927, one girl and two child mummies were found. After the necessary examinations, the mummies were brought to Kayseri High School. The mummies, which were kept in the laboratory of the school for many years, were sent to the old museum building in 1982. This year, in May, the mummies, which were completed in 2021 and host approximately 1940 artifacts, were brought to the Kayseri Archaeology Museum and started to be exhibited here.

FOUND AT THE CROSSROADS

Gökhan Yıldız, the Museum Director, who provided information about the mummies, said, "We have records that our 2 child mummies, which we exhibit in the Eastern Roman Hall, were found in an area known as Boğazköprü in 1927, at the crossroads of the highways located in the west of our city. After these 2 mummies were found, we know that they were kept at Kayseri High School until 1982. Afterwards, our mummies were exhibited in our old museum buildings with their transfer to our museum. With the completion of our new service building we are in, we have made these two artifacts available to our visitors again in the Eastern Roman Hall starting from May 2024."

"WE UNDERSTAND THAT THEY DROWNED WITH AN OBJECT"

Yıldız, who stated that the body integrities of the child mummies are preserved, said, "Our mummies consist of 1 girl and 1 boy mummy. Both of their body integrities are largely preserved. The larger girl is preserved in the form of a body integrity of approximately 94 centimeters, and we understand from the marks on her body that she was probably drowned with a chain-like object. We understand that both of them belong to the Christian religion from the fact that their arms are stacked on top of each other on their chests. Our boy, who is 64 centimeters tall, is believed to have been mummified after dying from a feverish illness, according to the researches conducted by our scientists. By revealing the preparation methods of the mummies and their body integrities, we analyze these two examples with the Eastern Roman Period of the 8th-13th century. Since no negative situations have been reported to us by our citizens during the visits so far, we plan to continue this exhibition by observing the condition of the artifacts."

"NOT A VERY COMMON EXAMPLE"

Yıldız, who stated that there are limited examples of mummies in Anatolia during the Eastern Roman Period, said, "Regarding the mummies, we have limited examples in our Anatolia during the Eastern Roman Period. In the period of the beyliks, we can see such examples in Seljuk and in the Anatolian beyliks that ruled for a short period of time, especially in the form of mummification of individuals belonging to the dynasty for about 150-200 years. In the Ottoman Period, we do not see any record or evidence of such a tradition. During our conversations with the visitors who visit the mummies, they drew attention to the fact that these examples have not been in our exhibition for a long time. Afterwards, every visitor who comes to our museum pays special attention to these two mummies during their visits due to the fact that they are not very common. Of course, in the future, we plan to ensure the exhibition of these two mummies in the permanent museum area by limiting them to certain age groups."