The Virtual Mummy - Softcover

Wisseman, Sarah U.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 025207100X ISBN 13: 9780252071003

Publisher: University of Illinois Press, 2002

Synopsis

The Virtual Mummy is a thoroughly readable introduction to the nondestructive techniques used by contemporary researchers to analyze the artifacts and culture of ancient Egypt. It tells the captivating story of the “virtual unwrapping” of an Egyptian mummy and the interdisciplinary project that allowed researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to investigate the person inside by way of an autopsy performed by computer.
The mummy, acquired by the university’s Spurlock Museum in 1989, was from the Fayum region of Egypt and is dated to about 100 a.d. Although other mummy projects have used destructive analytical techniques, the Spurlock mummy was never even unwrapped. Minute samples of loose material were taken for dating and for textile and wood analysis without affecting the integrity or display quality of the artifact. Faculty and staff members from area hospitals and University of Illinois departments including classics, anthropology, chemistry, textile sciences, and entomology were recruited by the Program on Ancient Technologies and Archaeological Materials for the project.
The interdisciplinary team implemented a research plan that relied on medical imaging techniques including X rays and CT scans. They also utilized for the first time in the history of mummy research a Cray II supercomputer -- at the university’s National Center for Supercomputing Applications -- to render three-dimensional images of the mummy’s skull and body.
Replete with illustrations, Sarah U. Wisseman’s engaging chronicle of teamwork and research gives readers the chance to experience how ancient history melded with contemporary technology. The Virtual Mummy also includes a review of the development of mummification and a general history of mummy research.
 

About this title

About the Author

SARAH U. WISSEMAN is the director of the Program on Ancient Technologies and Archaeological Materials at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the author of many scholarly articles.

Review

"The Virtual Mummy is just the kind of guide the layperson needs through the world of mummy studies. It describes and explains the various high-tech methods used to study mummies in both a detailed and enjoyable manner."

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 025207100X
• ISBN 13: 9780252071003
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 84