A royal mummy that Egypt regained from Michael Carlos Museum in Atlanta, the United States, may be King Ramses I, a prominent Egyptologist said Sunday.

Speaking at the Egyptian Museum on the occasion of the return of the mummy, Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, said all indications proved the mummy was royal, especially the physical resemblance between the mummy and Ramses I's successors, Set I and Ramses II.

He said the tomb of King Ramses I was empty when discovered in the ancient Egyptian city of Luxor in 1881, and it was believed its content had been sold by tomb robbers before landing in Niagara Falls Museum located close to the US-Canadian border.

Ten years later, a German Egyptologist who visited the museum examined the mummy and discovered it was royal, Hawass said, adding Michael Carlos Museum paid 2 million US dollars to gain the mummy in 1996.

The museum returned the mummy on Oct. 24, 2003, without taking any money from the Egyptian government.

Hawass also called on other countries to return all the Egyptian archaeological pieces that were stolen from Egypt.

The mummy will be on display in the Egyptian Museum for one month and a half before being placed in a museum in Luxor.

(Xinhua News Agency October 27, 2003)