TAA i.2.6.69

in which we found the king's mummy was not nearly 

so good as we had anticipated.

          Judging from the external appearance of Tut.ankh.Amen’s 

outer coffin, and from the preservation of x[?]/<the> royal 

mummies formerly discovered, we were led to expect that 

this untouched king would be in almost perfect condition. 

Unfortunately, that was not the case. <Although> the/<here> <he> was enclosed

in three tightly fitting coffins - the innermost of solid gold; <although> there 

was every indication that great care had been taken in 

his mummification; he was swathed in masses 

of the finest gossamer-like linen winding sheets; he was 

literally smothered with every kind of ornament and amulet; 

but, unhappily, the very custom of the last burial 

rites caused almost his destruction.

          During the last burial rites, the mummy had been subjected 

to consecration unguents that had been poured over it 

in great quantity, obviously for some sacred purpose or 

pious significance. Egyptian ritual was full of 

symbolism. The anointing by the gods of the body of 

Osiris would give the ceremony all the weight of religious 

tradition. But whatever the sacred intention, the result, so 

far as archaeology is concerned, has been unfortunate. 

There can be little doubt that those sacred liquids, sealed 

up for thousands of years within wooden and metal coffins, 

brought about the/<an> unfortunate condition of disintegration of the 

contents. Those sacred oils and resins waked[?]/<did>, no doubt, have

preserved the mummy for a considerable period, but in the 

course of some three thousand years, by their own decomposition, 

they became corrosives. The oils decomposed into fatty acids

which acted destructively on both the linen fabric & bursues[?]/<of wrappings,>

<the tissues and even the bones> of the mummy/<king mummy>. Moreover, their consolidated residue formed a hard black pitch-like mass, which firmly cemented

the mummy to the bottom of the coffin. Thus any clean 

systematic unwrapping of the king's mummy, for which