Egyptian Mummies: Unraveling the Secrets of an Ancient Art

Illuminating their mysteries, myths, sacred rituals, and hieroglyphic writings, Egyptian Mummies brings the ancients to life. In an easily accessible and lively style, noted Egyptologist Bob Brier gives the complete historical context of ancient Egyptian culture and a contemporary interpretation and synthesis of it. How the forgotten language of the pharaohs was deciphered through the unearthing of the Rosetta Stone; the most complete analysis of the art of mummification ever given; a comprehensive listing and description of the known royal mummies, their subsequent unwrappings, X-rayings, and CAT scans, and where they are housed today; stories of grave robberies and stolen mummies, as well as accounts of the trials and successes of archaeologists who pieced together the puzzles and unlocked the riddles of the land of the pyramids and the Sphinx; an entertaining chapter devoted to the way the modern world has treated mummies in popular culture - from Boris Karloff to Abbott and Costello to the contemporary author Anne Rice; a detailed look at the mummies in King Tutankhamen's tomb, and the latest DNA research that led to the partial cloning of a mummy's DNA sequence; and the meticulous research conducted by Brier over several years, culminating in his performing the first mummification in the Egyptian style in two thousand years - a research project that was the subject of a National Geographic TV special. Answering questions as old as the dawn of time, asked as recently as yesterday, Egyptian Mummies unearths treasures.