Experts conclude remains are those of Ramsses I, who was taken from Egypt in the 1860s.

An animated image shows an ancient Egyptian mummy's head, based on a 3-D compilation of computerized scans. The mummy is thought to be that of Ramsses I, a famous pharaoh who lived more than 3,000 years ago.

ATLANTA, July 10 — A mummy believed to be Ramsses I, founder of a famed pharaonic dynasty, is going back to its original home 150 years after it was taken out of Egypt.

“IF GEORGE Washington’s body were found abroad, we would certainly hope that it would be sent back to the United States,” said Peter Lacovara, curator of ancient art at Emory’s Michael C. Carlos Museum, where the mummy now lives.

The return of the 3,000-year-old mummy will not interfere with the museum’s longstanding plans to exhibit the ancient corpse next May through April 2004, Lacovara said.

“It is exciting to be collaborating more closely with our colleagues in Egypt and to be moving closer to the moment when we return the mummy to the people of Egypt,” Lacovara said, “and to have an opportunity to share an exhibition with visitors before its departure.”

The well-preserved corpse — its arms crossed right over left, with the left hand appearing to grasp an object, possibly a scepter — is the centerpiece of a large Egyptian collection the museum purchased in 1999 from the Niagara Falls Museum in Ontario, Canada.

SMUGGLED OUT OF EGYPT

The Ontario museum likely received the mummy from a Canadian doctor who bought the artifacts in Luxor, Egypt in the early 1860s, the Carlos Museum said. That was about the time when a famous cache of royal mummies at Deir el-Bahri was found and partially sold off without the knowledge that the site was the burial place of Egypt’s most fabled pharaohs, the museum said.

Carbon dating puts the body in the era of Ramsses I, who rose to the throne in 1293 B.C. and ruled for two years. His grandson, Ramsses II, was a builder and warrior believed to be the pharaoh of the Bible’s Exodus story. The mummy also resembles the features of Seti I, the son of Ramesses I.

Egyptian officials say they are satisfied the evidence establishes its royal heritage, including the location of the raided tomb, the style in which the mummy was wrapped and embalmed and its facial features. A specialist from Cairo’s American University examined the mummy earlier this year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.