Herodotus noted that the least expensive form of mummification was where no treatment was given and the body was simply wrapped in linen. ROM I, autopsied in Toronto in August 1974, was just such a mummy. The name is shorthand for the Royal Ontario Museum, to which the mummy belongs. The autopsy was an international operation, demonstrating cooperation among members of several disciplines from the Royal Ontario Museum, the Toronto Academy of Medicine, the University of Toronto and the Detroit group of the Paleopathology Association (Lewin et al. 1974; Hart et al. 1977a). The study arose as the result of a lecture on PUMII given by Aidan Cockburn and Theodore Reyman in February 1974 at the Academy of Medicine in Toronto. The following day, Eve Cockburn suggested a joint Canadian-United States project, and a day later Nicholas B. Millet offered to provide a mummy from the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum.

Following the unwrapping by Millet and his staff, the examination of ROM I was carried out in the anatomy department of the Medical Sciences Building, University of Toronto. Radiographic examination had been completed by D. F. Rideout prior to the unwrapping. The autopsy was directed by Reyman, Zimmerman and Lewin. Specimens obtained from the dissection were distributed to qualified participants and observers as this had the advantage of ensuring greater coverage in the search for abnormalities.