Unravelling Mummy Objectification: An Evaluation and Case Study of the History and Legacy of Mummymania

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, wealthy Europeans flocked to Egypt to see the ‘exotic’ and ancient land first-hand. On their journey, many tourists accumulated souvenirs, but none were so admired and desired as Egyptian mummies. The exploitative nature of European interest in Egyptian mummies meant little historical and personal information about each mummified individual was recorded or retained. The identities of many Egyptian mummies that were later donated to modern museum collections, were lost forever. This obsession with Egyptian mummies has been termed mummymania by many Egyptologists. The unfortunate lasting consequence of mummymania is that Egyptian mummies have continued to be merely the focal point of museum collections, valued not as historically significant individuals but for their ability to pique the interest of the public as objects of curiosity. This presentation will present a brief overview of the difficult histories surrounding mummies and their acquisition into museums. By using the mummies in the Redpath Museum (McGill University) as a case study, I will demonstrate how evaluating the difficult histories surrounding mummies, and their acquisition into museums is indeed the first step in unravelling their objectification both in scholarly and public spheres.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37180.0