THE only recorded ancient Egyptian mud-wrapped mummy may have been placed in the wrong coffin and no-one noticed.

The English-Australian politician who bought the mummy back in the 1800s was likely tricked by dealers who wanted to sell a “complete set” for more money.

Researchers studying the mummy, which resides at the University of Sydney’s Chau Chak Wing Museum, noticed some unusual features about the find.

They wrote in a recent study: “Local dealers likely placed an unrelated mummified body in the coffin to sell a more complete ‘set,’ a well-known practice in the local antiquities trade.”

CT scans and special dating techniques revealed that not only had the mummy been damaged several times after death but it was also about 200 years older than the coffin it was placed in.

The ‘mud mummy’ was found in Egypt and sold to Sir Charles Nicholson in the 1800s before he donated it to the University of Sydney in 1860.

Mud shells like the one covering the mummy have not been seen since.

The researchers explain in a their study that this “a mortuary treatment not previously documented in the Egyptian archaeological record.”

A few possible reasons for the unusual mud casing are discussed in the study.

Firstly, the specialists think the “mud wrap” could have been used to help keep the mummy together after damage not long after the burial.