Mummies, experts, and breaking science revealed in journalist Pringle's fascinating dive into a little-known arena of human studies. Perhaps the most eccentric of all scientific meetings, the World Congress on Mummy Studies brings together mummy experts from all over the globe and airs their latest findings. Who are these scientists, and what draws them to this morbid yet captivating field? The Mummy Congress, written by acclaimed science journalist Heather Pringle, examines not just the world of mummies, but also the people obsessed with them.

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 make mummies their life's work.

The first comprehensive global history of the discipline of paleopathology

"This book recounts the detective work of the Houston Mummy Research Program as it investigates the mysterious Egyptian mummy of a man named Ankh-Hap. CT-scans reveal that the mummy has wasp nests in its skull, wooden poles within its wrappings, and a suspicious number of missing body parts. Clues inside the coffin take the investigation to a company in Rochester, N.Y. founded by Henry Augustus Ward. This businessman raided the mummy-pits of Egypt and sold whole bodies and body parts to the public. The book investigates mummy trafficking in America and the uses made of these human remains for amusement and the manufacture of medicine, paint, and other products. The trail next leads to Texas, where the mummy spent part of the twentieth century in a veterinarian's classroom before it was lost inside an abandoned campus restroom"--

What will become of our earthly remains? What happens to our bodies during and after the various forms of cadaver disposal available? Who controls the fate of human remains? What legal and moral constraints apply? Legal scholar Norman Cantor provides a graphic, informative, and entertaining exploration of these questions. After We Die chronicles not only a corpse’s physical state but also its legal and moral status, including what rights, if any, the corpse possesses. In a claim sure to be controversial, Cantor argues that a corpse maintains a “quasi-human status" granting it certain protected rights—both legal and moral. One of a corpse’s purported rights is to have its predecessor’s disposal choices upheld. After We Die reviews unconventional ways in which a person can extend a personal legacy via their corpse’s role in medical education, scientific research, or tissue transplantation. This underlines the importance of leaving instructions directing post-mortem disposal. Another cadaveric right is to be treated with respect and dignity. After We Die outlines the limits that “post-mortem human dignity” poses upon disposal options, particularly the use of a cadaver or its parts in educational or artistic displays. Contemporary illustrations of these complex issues abound. In 2007, the well-publicized death of Anna Nicole Smith highlighted the passions and disputes surrounding the handling of human remains. Similarly, following the 2003 death of baseball great Ted Williams, the family in-fighting and legal proceedings surrounding the corpse’s proposed cryogenic disposal also raised contentious questions about the physical, legal, and ethical issues that emerge after we die. In the tradition of Sherwin Nuland's How We Die, Cantor carefully and sensitively addresses the post-mortem handling of human remains.

The modern manifestation of mummy studies began to take shape in the 1970s and has experienced significant growth during the last several decades, largely due to biomedical interest in soft tissue pathology. Although this points to a vibrant field, there are indications that we need to take stock of where it is today and how it may develop in the future, and this volume responds to those demands. In many ways, mummy studies and skeletal bioarchaeology are "sister-disciplines," sharing data sources, methodologies, and practitioners. Given these close connections, this book considers whether paradigmatic shifts that influenced the development of the latter also impacted the former. Whilst there are many available books discussing mummy research, most recent field-wide reviews adopt a biomedical perspective to explore a particular mummy or collection of mummies. The Bioarchaeology of Mummies is a unique attempt at a synthetic, state-of-the-field critical analysis which considers the field from an explicitly anthropological perspective. This book is written for both skeletal bioarcheologists that may not be familiar with the scope of mummy research, and mummy researchers from biomedical fields that may not be as acquainted with current research trends within bioarchaeology.

The most penetrating study of the curse ever conducted, The Mummy's Curse uncovers forgotten nineteenth-century fiction and poetry, revolutionizes the study of mummy horror films, and reveals the prejudices embedded in children’s toys. Examining original surveys and field observations of museum visitors demonstrate that media stereotypes - to which museums inadvertently contribute - promote vilification of mummies, which can invalidate demands for their removal from display. Jasmine Day shows that the curse's structure and meaning has changed over time, as public attitudes toward archaeology and the Middle East were transformed by events such as the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. The riddle of the 'curse of the pharaohs' is finally solved via a radical anthropological treatment of the legend as a cultural concept rather than a physical phenomenon. A must for anyone interested in this ancient and mystifying legend.