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The Mummy Congress: Science, Obsession and the Everlasting Dead

4.10 ( 781 Ratings by Goodreads)
The Mummy Congress: Science, Obsession and the Everlasting Dead

The Mummy Congress: Science, Obsession and the Everlasting Dead

(Author)
4.10 (781 Ratings by Goodreads)
hardback
Published: 16 July, 2001
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Description

From the dusty origins of mummification in the deserts of South America and Africa to the latest technology hyped on the Internet by Utah's Summum Corporation (which promises mummification for millennia for a mere $62,000), "The Mummy Congress" investigates the allure of mummies. In 1998 Heather Pringle visited the remote Chilean port of Arica for The World Congress on Mummy Studies. This book introduces us to the eccentric world of the researchers and academics who investigate such phenomena as the child mummies of the Chinchorro, preserved over 7000 years ago, animal mummies from Ancient Eygpt, the 19th century Buddhist tradition of self-mummification to ward off decay, and the political mummification of 20th century demagogues like Lenin and Eva Peron. Pringle also looks at the uses of mummies for today's historians and scientists and how much they tell us about ancient cultures. This research is sometimes bizarre, but often reveals fundamental truths.
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More Details

Type Book
ISBN13 9781841151113
ISBN10 1841151114
Number Of Pages 384
Item Weight 611 g
Product Dimensions 155 x 38 x 211 mm
Publisher / Reseller Fourth Estate
Format hardback
Edition First Edition
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Media Reviews

If your image of a mummy is the shambling predator of a hundred Hammer films, prepare for a widening of your horizons. The odd title of Pringle's book gives no hint of just what a comprehensive survey of the subject can be found within these pages. From the Ancient Egyptians, through medieval saints and even the mummified remains of Lenin, Eva Peron and Kim Il Sung, the reader is taken through every possible aspect of a macabre subject. Pringle is particularly sharp on the popular culture aspect of mummies (which is, let's face it, how most of us encounter the subject), and she skilfully packs in the hard-core scientific info alongside blackly comic titbits. The historical aspects are assiduously detailed, with the significance of mummies for ancient cultures brought vividly to life. We are also taken into the bizarre world of mummy studies (including the mummy congress of the title), with characters as eccentric and obsessed as any played by Peter Cushing. Her engrossing book even manages to address key issues about our attitudes towards death, often suggesting we are not so distant from the ancients in this area as we'd like to believe.

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Author's Bio

Heather Pringle is a journalist and writer who has written on archaeology and ancient cultures and reviews in numerous magazines including National Geographic, Discover, New Scientist, Science and Geo. She is also the author of two books including In Search of Ancient North America. She lives in Vancouver, Canada.

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