Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park

HAMILTON, OHIO - When experts open a mummy coffin this Friday, April 30 at Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park, they don't expect to find someone wrapped in bandages from head to toe.

What they do hope to find are hieroglyphics or other clues that might tell more about the life and death of Ankh-Takelot, a high official and blood relative of the Egyptian pharaoh, dating from 944 to 732 B.C.

The opening takes place at 6:30 p.m. at the park's ancient sculpture museum, with the event being by invitation only, said Richard Batdorf, an office manager at the park.

This is the first time Pyramid Hill has ever opened a mummy coffin, he added. This one, which is 3,000 years old, is part of the private collection of Pyramid Hill's founder, Harry Wilks, who bought it at auction. It has been on display since 2009.

Dr. Stephen Tuck, a classics professor at Miami University, came up with the idea to open the coffin because on the outside, "it doesn't have everything you would expect on it," he said. So perhaps more information is on the inside, he reasoned.

"There should be something like hieroglyphics left, (which reveal) additional steps to secure passage of the soul into the afterlife. Or there may be paintings of protective deities," Tuck said.

Asked how one opens a mummy case, Tuck said, "The short answer is, very carefully. You have to lift the cover, slowly, carefully and evenly."

And even when that's done, there may be nothing to find.

"We're not certain of anything. I fully expect hieroglyphic text, but who knows?" Tuck said.

"We would love to find bright, colorful hieroglyphics. We hope that will be the case," Batdorf said. However, referring to the infamous Geraldo Rivera investigative fiasco, he said with a laugh, "We could have another Al Capone's vault."