The mystery of the 17 wooden caskets contains tiny mummies

So far, scientists are still searching for a solution to the mystery of these tiny mummies in Edinburgh .

Referring to mummies, the first thing in our minds is often about Egypt, the home of the Pharaohs with the ancient art of ancient embalming. However, in the legendary land of Arthur's Seat of the United Kingdom, there are also extremely famous and mysterious mummies. It is not a mummy of kings or humans, but a mummy of strange effigies .

Accidental discovery .

Arthur's Seat is a hillside area east of Edinburgh Castle, in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. This is one of the legendary landmarks of the UK - believed to be the location of the Camelot castle, owned by the famous King Arthur.

Arthur's Seat - the legendary land of famous King Arthur

In 1836, one of the discoveries of the Western world happened here. The London Times published July 20 of that year described a bizarre event: 'There were five boys while hunting the hares of Arthur's Seat that discovered a strange cliff. How mischievous they were, they went into a small cave there and found 17 tiny mummies. Each mummy is only 3 - 4 inches long.

Tiny mummies were discovered on Arthur's Seat

Five boys were completely stunned. Different from the usual notion of large mummies, wrapped in white bandages, Arthur's Seat mummies are very small in size. More precisely, there are 17 wooden mannequin mummies with 17 corresponding coffins. Each effigy has meticulous costumes, separate as real people.

Close-up of the faces of tiny mummies

According to the description, these 17 mummies are arranged into 3 horizontal rows, 2 rows with 8 mummies and 1 row with 1 mummy. This is a confusing arrangement, never encountered in previous history.

The mummies are forgotten .

Although there are many questions around the mummies at the time of discovery, however, it is unclear why this story sinks into oblivion for more than 60 years.

At first, the 5 righteous boys discovered that they did not care much about what they found. An article published in 1836 in London Times reported that these boys burned that small wooden coffin immediately after finding them.

Thankfully, a professor named Ferguson then "saved" those coffins. He brought them home and was the first to open the lid of small trunks, discovering a mummy inside.

Each mummy is made for separate coffins

Here, historical documents document the study of 17 tiny mummies that are no longer available. According to local people, these mummies turn into collectibles of some individuals and are lost from time to time. The story of the little Arthur's Seat mummy sinks into oblivion.

The re-embalmed mummy and the mystery of no answer .

In 1901, 65 years after the discovery of any year, tiny mummies appeared again. This time, 8 of the 17 coffins were found and donated to the National Museum of Scotland. This is also the time when the first serious studies of secrets of tiny mummies were conducted.

Only 8 of the 17 coffins were brought to display at the Scottish National Museum

Through research, the mummies are all made from wood carved with knives. They share a common characteristic: they all lose one arm. According to scientists, it is likely that these mummies lose one hand so that the author can make it easily sew, wear clothes, dress them.

In addition, of the 8 surviving corpses, only 3 of them are trimmed, rounding the edges. Archaeologists have since concluded that at least two people have created these mummies together.

In addition, the study of two experts Simpson and Menefee on mummy clothes, they confirmed that these works could not be born before 1812 - the time when cotton fibers replaced linen in Scotland.

Clothes of mummies are sewn from cotton and look quite modern

Many theories have been proposed to explain the origin of these tiny mummies. Locals think that they are magic charms to serve a certain witch. Or simply, they are the talismans that Scottish sailors made before going to sea. But both views are more spiritual, lack of authenticity.

The hypothesis supported by some intellectuals is that the mummies belong to two notorious killers in Scotland in the early nineteenth century - Burke and Hare. Accordingly, these two assassins killed 17 innocent people in the 1820s, a terror in this country.

The number 17 exactly matches the number of original mummies at Arthur's Seat. However, this hypothesis still faces some objections from many people. The reason is because of the 17 victims of Burke and Hare, there are 12 women, yet the mummy's clothes are mostly male attire.

Two assassins Burke and Hare - who are supposed to be owners of 17 mysterious mummies

So to this day, the curtain behind the tiny mummies in Edinburgh has yet to be solved. And more than that, the whereabouts of those 9 missing mummies are still in the dark .