Book Review: Mummies and Death in Egypt

Bryn Mawr Classical Review (review by Allen Kerkeslager)

Françoise Dunand, Roger Lichtenberg, Mummies and Death in Egypt.
Foreword by Jean Yoyotte.
Translated from the French by David Lorton.
Cornell University Press, 2006

Françoise Dunand and Roger Lichtenberg have a long record of publications related to the topic of this book. They are best known for their research on Graeco-Roman Egypt, especially archaeological excavation in the region of the el-Kharga oasis. Consistent with the encyclopedic breadth and judicious interpretive skill found in their previous work, Mummies and Death in Egypt offers excellent surveys of both the history of mummification in Egypt and how mummies are studied using current scientific methods. . . .

Among some of the book's more specific contributions, specialists in Graeco-Roman Egypt will be quick to grasp the importance of Dunand and Lichtenberg's observation that the study of mummies complements the use of other resources for studying ancient demography (pp. 173-75). Papyrology and epigraphy have provided important sources for statistical data on average age at death, ratio of males to females in various age groups, and other data that illuminate the demography of ancient Egypt. Recent applications of scientific methods to the study of large numbers of provenanced mummies found in excavations have provided a completely new source for the kind of statistical data that is most useful in addressing such issues. Thus it is especially valuable to discover that some of the data derived from the study of mummies is similar to the results of the study of census returns by Bagnall and Frier (p. 173).

David Lorton has performed a great service in producing a clear and readable translation of such an excellent book. Many readers will probably stumble over a few of the medical terms in the later chapters that are not defined in the text or the glossary. However, this will not prevent the book from serving as an easily accessible textbook or supplementary reading for students at all levels, from high school to the graduate level. The book can be recommended to the widest possible audience of general readers, students, and advanced scholars.

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