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June 19 – October 31, 2010
Wrapped! The Search for the Essential Mummy
Pahat, Berkshire Museum’s world-famous mummy, will be the centerpiece for the debut of Wrapped! a travelling exhibition that includes Egyptian artifacts from the Akhimim region. Two other mummies on loan to the Museum will join Pahat, each in its own richly decorated sarcophagus.

Wrapped! explores the long-held fascination with Egyptian mummies as a source of inspiration as well as a significant shift in Western sensibilities toward these important artifacts. Wrapped! examines the relatively recent role of modern forensic analysis in Egyptian studies, presenting the work of specialists who use CT-scans to reconstruct the appearance of people from the ancient Egyptian community of Akhmim. These forensic reconstructions put a human face on the past, contributing to an enlightened understanding of a single community and the more compassionate treatment of mummies. The exhibition was developed by Jonathan Elias, Ph.D., Director of the Akhmim Mummy Studies Consortium (AMSC), which is conducting an on-going and sustained effort to understand the ancient population and mummies of Akhmim.

In addition to three significant mummies, Wrapped! also includes ancient mummified cats, falcons, and a crocodile. Fascinating artifacts, including funerary scarabs, necklaces, amulets, vessels, figurines, and headdresses, as well as historical documents related to the trade and study of mummies, will surround the sarcophagi in the Berkshire Museum’s galleries.  The exhibition illuminates the rise in popularity of Egyptology among Western European scientists, addressing on the destructive 19th century practice of public “unrollings” of mummies. Interactive displays will allow visitors to make their way through a tomb, participate in a mummy-wrapping activity, and view a video on forensic reconstruction methods.  Wrapped! will also include a variety of public events and educational programs.