Describes the techniques and the reasons for the use of mummification in ancient Egypt.

This work examines Egyptian mummies as artifacts in pre-1900 America: how they got here, what happened to them, and how they were perceived by the public and by archaeologists. Collected newspaper accounts and other documents reveal the progression of American interest in mummies as curiosities, commodities, and cultural lessons. Numerous mummies which no longer exist are identified, and commentary on mummy coffins and a discussion of methods of public exhibition are included.

Mummified explores the curious, unsettling and controversial cases of mummies held in French and British museums. From powdered mummies eaten as medicine to mummies unrolled in public, dissected for race studies and DNA-tested in modern laboratories, there is a lot more to these ancient remains than first meets the eye. This book takes you on a journey from Paris to London, Leicester and Manchester, from the apothecaries of the Middle Ages to the dissecting tables of the eighteenth century, and finally behind the screen of today’s computers, to revisit the stories of these bodies that have fascinated Europeans for so long. Mummified investigates matters of life and death, of collecting and viewing, and of interactions – sometimes violent and sometimes emotional – that question the essence of what makes us human.

"In the 1980s, Denver Museum of Nature & Science acquired two ancient Egyptian mummies and coffins. The mummies are from an unknown locale and have been subject of unpublished scientific and unscientific analyses. The DMNS staff scientists decided to reexamine the mummies and coffins using new and innovative techniques"--

"Today, a good century after the first X-rays of mummies, Egyptology has the benefit of all the methods and means at the disposal of forensic medicine. The 'mummy stories' we tell have changed their tone, but they have enjoyed much success, with fantastic scientific and technological results resolving the mysteries of the ancient land of the pharaohs."--from the Foreword Mummies are the things that fascinate us most about ancient Egypt. But what are mummies? How did the Egyptians create them? And why? What became of the people they once were? We are learning more all the time about the cultural processes surrounding mummification and the medical characteristics of ancient Egyptian mummies. In the first part of Mummies and Death in Egypt Françoise Dunand gives an overview of the history of mummification in Egypt from the prehistoric to the Roman period. She thoroughly describes the preparations of the dead (tombs and their furnishings, funerary offerings, ornamentation of the corpse, coffins, and canopic jars), and she includes a separate chapter on the mummification of animals. She links these various practices and behaviors to the religious beliefs of classical Egypt. In the second part of this book, Roger Lichtenberg, a physician and archaeologist, offers a fascinating narrative of his forensic research on mummies, much of it conducted with a portable X-ray machine on archaeological digs. His findings have revealed new information on the ages of the mummified, their causes of death, and the illnesses and injuries they suffered. Together, Dunand and Lichtenberg provide a state-of-the-art account of the science of mummification and its social and religious context.

Explores the reasons why ancient Egyptians mummified their dead; provides information about how mummies were made; and discusses the items and rituals that accompanied the dead to their tombs.

Publisher Description

This title lays out how and why Egyptians made mummies and gives some famous mummies as examples. Clear text and vibrant photos grab and hold readers' interest, and QR Codes in each chapter link to book-specific videos, activities, and more. Features include a table of contents, fun facts, Making Connections questions, a glossary, an infographic, and an index. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. DiscoverRoo is an imprint of Pop!, a division of ABDO.

In 1999 a full-scale research project was launched by the Radiological Department of the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam and the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden to scan a series of human and animal mummies from the museum's collection. Between 1999 and 2003, 29 human mummies, 8 dissected heads and various animal mummies were scanned and this volume presents the results of these investigations. The book begins by looking at the history of the collection and acquisitions, at early investigations carried out on the mummies from the early 19th century onwards, through to the radiological studies of the last fifty years. A general survey of mummification techniques, and archaeological and scientific research into them, is also given. The main part of the book comprises the results of the radiological scans which are discussed in terms of physical anthropology, anatomical embalming details, degree of preservation, anomalies and palaeopathology, wrappings and artefacts. This is followed by a catalogue of both the human and animal mummies (cats, lambs, birds, reptiles and fish) that were part of the project including details on acquisition, provenance, date, dimensions, description of the exterior, radiological description and comments. This is volume one of a new series of monographs dedicated to the archaeological finds in the Leiden Museum of Antiquities. Future volumes include studies of demotic contracts on papyrus, and discussion of the museum's excavations at Saqqara and Tell Sabi Abyad.