Thursday, March 8, 2012

How does Patricia Lauber describe Mummy 1770 in Tales Mummies Tell?

Tales Mummies Tell is a young adult book by Patricia Lauder chock full of scientific information about ancient Egyptian mummies, as well as information about preserved ancient remains in Europe (notably the Bog People), South America, and the American Southwest. The scientific studies done reveal information about not only embalming practices, but about the lives, diets, health, customs, and medical practices of the cultures of these preserved remains.
Mummy 1770 is an ancient Egyptian mummy made famous by studies done on it in 1975. The mummy was in a stone coffin that had been labeled and then forgotten in a storage area of the Manchester (UK) Museum. When it was opened, a team of researchers discovered the mummified remains of a young girl who was about thirteen years old at the time of her death. Apparently, her legs had been amputated, and she died several weeks later. Her legs had been replaced with wooden slats, and her feet were fashioned out of mud. She was probably from a wealthy family, as her fingernails were covered with gold, as were the toenails that had been made from reeds. Forensic researchers were able to reconstruct her face using plaster casts and wax. A wealth of scientific medical and cultural information was gleaned in this study.

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