Mummified: The stories behind Egyptian mummies in museums

by Angela Stienne

Overview

The unsettling stories of how Egyptian mummies came to be held in British and French museums.

We all know what a mummy is – or do we? In Mummified, Angela Stienne explores the little-known stories behind the ancient Egyptian remains displayed in British and French museums.

Taking the reader on a journey between Egypt, Paris and London, Stienne exposes a murky world of grave-robbing, theft and callously treated human remains. Mummies have been unrolled in public, dissected for race studies and even eaten for their supposed health-giving properties. But does the fact they are thousands of years old mean they can be treated as objects, or do we owe them the same respect we would any other human body?

Investigating matters of life and death and the ethics of collection and display, Mummified offers a fresh perspective on these ancient bodies, which have fascinated Europeans for centuries.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526185525
Publisher:	Manchester University Press
Publication date:	06/03/2025
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.08(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Dr Angela Stienne is a cultural historian, museum researcher and storyteller. In 2016 she created the website Mummy Stories, which aims to reshape the discussion around human remains in museums by collecting people's stories of their own encounters.

Table of Contents

Foreword by John J. Johnston
Prologue
Introduction: The mummy
1 The mummy as medicine, the mummy in medicine
2 The displayed mummy, the displaced body
3 Mummies buried in a garden, and other incidents
4 The mummy’s foot
5 Mummies unrolled
6 The White mummy
7 The (White) mummy returns
8 The mummy of the future
Epilogue
Index

Editorial Reviews

‘Who would have thought that Egyptian mummies are alive and well all around us? Angela Stienne’s book helps us to see the ancient mummy in the brown paint of gallery paintings, in anatomy lectures, even in modern discussions of race and ethnicity. This brilliantly written book proves that the mummy has reawakened within our own social spaces as a material link between past and present. A must read.’
Kara Cooney, Professor of Ancient Egyptian Art & Architecture, University of California Los Angeles

'Mummified is a refreshing take on ancient Egyptian human remains. Inviting readers to reflect on and question the history behind the modern Western fascination with "mummies", it will help museum visitors see them as human beings rather than objects of display.'
Dr Heba Abd el Gawad, Egypt’s Dispersed Heritage Project, UniversityCollege London

‘A compelling, captivating and complete book: it takes us on a journey through which we discover, enchanted, what it is about Egyptian mummies that has captured our imaginations and the imaginations of those who preceded us.’
Dario Piombino-Mascali, Research Professor in Anthropology, Vilnius University

‘Stienne's book is important because it takes seriously the perspective of the observer rather than attempting to reconstitute the ancient person. This results in some fascinating and genuinely insightful reflections on the reception of the ancient Egyptian dead in museums.’
Dr Campbell Price, Curator of Egypt and Sudan, Manchester Museum

'This rather unusual book is a very personal exploration of a major ethical and philosophical study. [...] The author explores the history of the displacement of ancient Egyptian individuals, always treating each as a real person.'
Ancient Egypt magazine

From the Publisher