In Search of the Immortals: Mummies, Death and the Afterlife

by HowardReid (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  1999

  $3.25

  Egypt was not the only ancient culture that preserved its dead. As this fascinating study shows, communities across the Old and New Worlds went to often extraordinary lengths to preserve their loved ones, enemies or sacrificial victims. Other bodies, such as the Ice Man or some bog victims, were mummified by chance. All provide an invaluable glimpse into the lives and beliefs of ancient societies, many of which have left little other evidence. Reid, an anthropologist and film maker, examines bodies in Asia, Siberia, North-West Europe, the Canary Islands, Egypt, Chile, Peru and the Andes, as well as the circumstances surrounding their deaths.

• Used

  Paperback
  1999

  $4.33

  The author, a documentary filmmaker and anthropologist, takes his readers to sites in Central Asia, Siberia, Europe, Morocco, Egypt, Canary Islands, Chile, and Peru, in his attempt to answer fundamental questions about why ancient peoples practiced mummification. He draws upon research from recent excavations at these sites and on the expertise of scholars who accompanied him at various stages of his journey. In the Canary Islands, for example, where the Guanches mummified their dead, he met with local archaeologists and with Thor Heyerdahl, who gave his views on the possibility of an Egyptian connection. In Chile, where the practice of mummification is the oldest on Earth, Reid draws upon the findings of physical anthropologist Bernardo Arriaza, whom he also consulted.