Former Niagara Falls mummy may be Ramses I

DNA tests try to link body to royal remains.
By Alan Barnes, Toronto Star
STAFF REPORTER

It's the case of the mystery mummy - for many years on display at the former Niagara Falls museum. And it has Egyptologists around the world buzzing. There have been suggestions for decades that the 3,000-year-old mummy could be the remains of the famous pharaoh Rameses I. And now, modern science's DNA testing - which has become a major tool in criminal investigation - could hold the key to the puzzle, The Michael C. Cabs Museum of Atlanta, Ga., which purchased the mummy and other Egyptian artefacts for $2 million (U.S.) last year from Toronto collector Bill Jamieson, has enlisted the aid of Dr. Douglas Wallace. Wallace heads the department of molecular science at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. Researchers under his direction are attempting to cross-match DNA from the mystery mummy with DNA from known royal family mummies. But acquiring samples from Egypt will require permission of the government there, said Peter Lacovara, curator of andent art at the Michael C. Carlos Museum. He said the museum has agreed to return the mummy to Egypt if it turns out to be Ramses I. It would be the only known royal mummy outside of the country. Rameses I was the first of 11 pharaohs of that name - including Ramses II, often known as Rameses the Great because of the size of the monuments he had built to himself. Jamieson, 45, a collector of artefacts, said he bought everything but Falls exhibits from the Niagara museum about 1½ years ago. He said the mummy had been with the museum since 1861. Jamieson thought the Royal Ontario Museum would buy his Egyptian collection of mummies and coffins and artefacts, but the deal fell through. He then started a Web site and wrote letters to every museum that showed an interest in Egyptology.