I don’t know if it was the same in your education but I think part of the reason mummies loom so large in my imagination is that I started learning about them at the impressionable and tender age of 7.
I think that that contributes, somehow, to the strange and gross nature of trying to figure out our own feelings about Egyptology and mummies and mummies being displayed in western institutions. They’ve been such a huge part of our lives in western education from a young age that we’ve naturalized their presence in these places (and in our minds), yet they are also some of the first grotesque images we see in an institutional setting.
I could not agree more! It absolutely gets fed to us/normalised when we’re so young and it’s all wrapped up in the magic of the ancient world 🪄
And yet they are such disturbing things to look at???
I’d also say Egyptian mummies present a fascinating/harrowing example of objectification and this very severe loss of personhood, these real life people are transformed or reduced to objects or relics by these institutions.
super interesting! my friend is currently writing a dissertation about the racism in the display of human remains. hopefully there will one day be a less intrusive way of studying history from the dead
I really enjoyed this read, thank you! I agree I find mummies (or rather, the concept of us gawping at them through the glass in museums) disquieting. Not as disquieting as that whole mummy-eating thing, but still..it doesn't quite seem right.
I have to agree wholeheartedly with you that the display of mummies (the dead, who were meant to rest in peace with their earthly delights, etc.) is quite disturbing and like you wrote simply “wrong.”
On the other side of if the display dilemma — Audubon used to kill birds in order to record their exquisite feathers and features in paintings. This was done, all in the name of furthering education about the natural world. Birds don’t sit still for portraits.
Thus, the argument of our understanding of history from archaeology, hmm 🤔
This is so interesting! I didn't know the papyrus used to wrap mummies also had text in it. When it comes to the ethics, I understand that exhumating mummified bodies can help us learn about burial rites, but actually having the corpses on display (and eating them!!!) is definitely crossing the line. Also, even with the excuse of *education*, that can only get you so far.
There is no doubt that mummies (mummified persons?) are an endless source of fascination to nearly everyone. As a docent at the Michael C Carlos museum in Atlanta GA, I can testify that visiting school children always want to see mummies. All the mummies on display are wrapped (is there really a body in there?) and we attempt to provide a context, in terms of what we can learn about ancient Egypt from their treatment of the dead. Oh, and we also have on display a mummified fish, dog, and falcon. All these mummies attract many questions and provide wonderful opportunities for learning.
People all die and need to be handled, quite literally, with expediency, except in the Arctic. (Very few croak in Antarctica).
One can remove their guts and gizzards, q.v. Canopic jars, salting and drying less, um, moist tissues. Voilà! A mummy.
One can put them in the Towers of Silence for birds to consume. Feed the birds”s. Tuppence a bag? Love that Ahura Mazda!
Most European cultures have done inhumations, cremations, or both, q.v. “Cremains”.
I give my highest recommendation to the works of Michigan poet and undertaker, Thomas Lynch, whose sacred duty for years has been the careful translation of his townspeople from fellow citizens
to Dearly Beloved. These books are a useful corrective to Jessica Mitford’s still enthralling exposé, “The American Way of Death”(1963). Lots of macabre stuff!
All six Mitford sisters were more or less fascinating, and called Jessica “Decca”.
Personally, I am an enthusiastic
taphophile, or cemetery lover.
Garden cemeteries of the 19th Century, like Highgate in London or Mt Auburn in Boston, were not the mephitic boneyards of the past.
They are still lovely places to contemplate mortality, a pre-occupation for the Egyptian world.
And here’s a shoutout to the Latin cultures who visit defunct relatives in graveyards with marigolds and a nice lunch on the Day of the Dead.💀
Was at the Museo dell'Egizio in Turin in February where, in addition to mummified crocs, they have on display a series of mummified cats, a mummified shrew, and some human mummies that were clearly the handiwork of dynastic Egyptian interns. Those human mummies looked they someone had drawn faces and nipples on them with a Sharpie.
My son and I loved that the cat mummies looked as though they had been marketed in Cat Mummy Basic, Cat Mummy Standard, and Cat Mummy Deluxe models based on technique and expertise.
Man, I love a mummy exhibit.
I might have another rant about why the Museo dell'Egizio with all the priceless artifacts is in Italy, but that is a topic for another day.
It occurs to me that pyramids are a useful synecdoche for Egyptian society: undeniably stable over millennia, yet relying on a vast base of toiling fellahin to provide luxuries - like astonishing grave goods - for the numerically small ruling class, with priests and officials.
Ironically, the burials of the poorest ancient Egyptians, being merely in the hot sand, sometimes dehydrated and mummified these dead as successfully as Pharaoh.
I’m okay with some level of private study but I don’t like the idea of of displaying them. This is one reason I’m going to be cremated!🫣
I respect this decision!! 🤣
I don’t know if it was the same in your education but I think part of the reason mummies loom so large in my imagination is that I started learning about them at the impressionable and tender age of 7.
I think that that contributes, somehow, to the strange and gross nature of trying to figure out our own feelings about Egyptology and mummies and mummies being displayed in western institutions. They’ve been such a huge part of our lives in western education from a young age that we’ve naturalized their presence in these places (and in our minds), yet they are also some of the first grotesque images we see in an institutional setting.
Also? They’re people!!
I could not agree more! It absolutely gets fed to us/normalised when we’re so young and it’s all wrapped up in the magic of the ancient world 🪄
And yet they are such disturbing things to look at???
I’d also say Egyptian mummies present a fascinating/harrowing example of objectification and this very severe loss of personhood, these real life people are transformed or reduced to objects or relics by these institutions.
super interesting! my friend is currently writing a dissertation about the racism in the display of human remains. hopefully there will one day be a less intrusive way of studying history from the dead
I wanna read that essay 👀
yeah I can't wait to see it!
I really enjoyed this read, thank you! I agree I find mummies (or rather, the concept of us gawping at them through the glass in museums) disquieting. Not as disquieting as that whole mummy-eating thing, but still..it doesn't quite seem right.
You’re so welcome! It really is odd isn’t it?
I have to agree wholeheartedly with you that the display of mummies (the dead, who were meant to rest in peace with their earthly delights, etc.) is quite disturbing and like you wrote simply “wrong.”
On the other side of if the display dilemma — Audubon used to kill birds in order to record their exquisite feathers and features in paintings. This was done, all in the name of furthering education about the natural world. Birds don’t sit still for portraits.
Thus, the argument of our understanding of history from archaeology, hmm 🤔
also I did not know that about those poor birds but of course it makes sense!
This never ending argument! The ethics of scientific discovery are just 🫠🫠🫠🫠
Mummified crocs? My dear, how could you lose?
Despite wearing white socks with your homely Crocs shoes.
I am glad mummifiers would clothe their ‘Brazilians’
In some cartonnage briefs
And then wrap crocodilians.
But your gauche vinyl sabots
‘Though in cartonnage
Are a fashion faux pas; in a word,
Sabotage.
The Egyptian death hobby that I find the queerest
Are the manifold moggies they made
Mummy Dearest.
My shorthair, renowned for outside-the-box crapping
Still should not spend eternity in linen wrapping.
Unless clever Egyptians, wrapping up cats,
Wrapped up afterlife prey for them:
Mummified rats.
(Ancient Egypt has all of the mystery you seek,
Like mysterious Queen, Cleopatra the Greek).
This is so interesting! I didn't know the papyrus used to wrap mummies also had text in it. When it comes to the ethics, I understand that exhumating mummified bodies can help us learn about burial rites, but actually having the corpses on display (and eating them!!!) is definitely crossing the line. Also, even with the excuse of *education*, that can only get you so far.
There is no doubt that mummies (mummified persons?) are an endless source of fascination to nearly everyone. As a docent at the Michael C Carlos museum in Atlanta GA, I can testify that visiting school children always want to see mummies. All the mummies on display are wrapped (is there really a body in there?) and we attempt to provide a context, in terms of what we can learn about ancient Egypt from their treatment of the dead. Oh, and we also have on display a mummified fish, dog, and falcon. All these mummies attract many questions and provide wonderful opportunities for learning.
People all die and need to be handled, quite literally, with expediency, except in the Arctic. (Very few croak in Antarctica).
One can remove their guts and gizzards, q.v. Canopic jars, salting and drying less, um, moist tissues. Voilà! A mummy.
One can put them in the Towers of Silence for birds to consume. Feed the birds”s. Tuppence a bag? Love that Ahura Mazda!
Most European cultures have done inhumations, cremations, or both, q.v. “Cremains”.
I give my highest recommendation to the works of Michigan poet and undertaker, Thomas Lynch, whose sacred duty for years has been the careful translation of his townspeople from fellow citizens
to Dearly Beloved. These books are a useful corrective to Jessica Mitford’s still enthralling exposé, “The American Way of Death”(1963). Lots of macabre stuff!
All six Mitford sisters were more or less fascinating, and called Jessica “Decca”.
Personally, I am an enthusiastic
taphophile, or cemetery lover.
Garden cemeteries of the 19th Century, like Highgate in London or Mt Auburn in Boston, were not the mephitic boneyards of the past.
They are still lovely places to contemplate mortality, a pre-occupation for the Egyptian world.
And here’s a shoutout to the Latin cultures who visit defunct relatives in graveyards with marigolds and a nice lunch on the Day of the Dead.💀
Was at the Museo dell'Egizio in Turin in February where, in addition to mummified crocs, they have on display a series of mummified cats, a mummified shrew, and some human mummies that were clearly the handiwork of dynastic Egyptian interns. Those human mummies looked they someone had drawn faces and nipples on them with a Sharpie.
My son and I loved that the cat mummies looked as though they had been marketed in Cat Mummy Basic, Cat Mummy Standard, and Cat Mummy Deluxe models based on technique and expertise.
Man, I love a mummy exhibit.
I might have another rant about why the Museo dell'Egizio with all the priceless artifacts is in Italy, but that is a topic for another day.
It occurs to me that pyramids are a useful synecdoche for Egyptian society: undeniably stable over millennia, yet relying on a vast base of toiling fellahin to provide luxuries - like astonishing grave goods - for the numerically small ruling class, with priests and officials.
Ironically, the burials of the poorest ancient Egyptians, being merely in the hot sand, sometimes dehydrated and mummified these dead as successfully as Pharaoh.
I want no mummia in my tummy.