Re-wrapped divine image from Manchester Museum’s 2015 exhibition, ‘Gifts for the Gods: Animal Mummies Revealed’. (Photo: Julia Thorne / Source)
Unwrapping wonderful things…
The thing is, unlike the gifts in shiny paper underneath the tree, the Egyptians never intended their bodies – or statues – to be unwrapped. Yet just like at Christmas, concealing and revealing has become part of ancient Egypt’s popular appeal.
Christmas morning and Egyptology are similarly characterised by a curiosity to find out ‘what’s inside?’ – the promise of treasures unknown – be it Howard Carter’s infamous first glimpse of gold in the tomb of Tutankhamun, or the allure of the secrets within the wrappings of the ancient dead. And especially over the last century, value has been placed ‘knowing’ in the same way as ‘owning’. Medical technologies like CT scanning are now much used in the study of mummies as they are not…
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Egypt at the Manchester Museum 