lower leg from mummy

Unprovenanced, lower leg from mummy, UC 34362, Ptolemaic Period
The fate of very many worn out textiles was to be used in burials. Egyptian mummies, originally wrapped in complete cloths as if dressed, over the centuries became increasingly elaborate, provided with textile padding below and torn strips or "bandages" above. In the Ptolemaic period, the limbs of mummies were often separately wrapped. This leg fragment illustrates well the fine art of mummy wrapping at this time, an apotheosis of rags.

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/