Mummies, Disease and Ancient Cultures

by Thomas Aidan Cockburn (Editor), Eve Cockburn (Editor), Theodore A. Reyman (Editor)

Overview

To look upon a mummy is to come face to face with our past. This book presents the story of mummification as a practice worldwide. Mummies have been found on every continent, some deliberately preserved as with the ancient Egyptians using a variety of complex techniques, others accidentally by dry baking heat, intense cold and ice, or by tanning in peat bogs. By examining these preserved humans, we can get profound insights into the lives, health, culture and deaths of individuals and populations long gone. The first edition of this book was acclaimed as a classic. This readable new edition builds on these foundations, investigating the fantastic new findings in South America, Europe and the Far East. It will be a 'must-have' volume for anyone working in paleopathology and a fascinating read for all those interested in anthropology, archaeology, and the history of medicine.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781316341803
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/30/1998
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	31 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

Table of Contents

Foreword; Preface; Introduction Aidan Cockburn; Part I. Mummies of Egypt: 1. Mummies of ancient Egypt William H. Peck; 2, Disease in ancient Egypt A.T. Sandison and Edmund Tapp; 3. Dental health in ancient Egypt James E. Harris, Paul V. Ponitz and Brian Ingalls; 4. A classic mummy: PUM II Aidan Cockburn, Robin A. Barraco, William H. Peck and Theodore A. Reyman; 5. ROM I: mummification for the common people Nicholas B. Millet, Gerald D. Hart, Theodore A. Reyman, Michael R. Zimmerman and Peter K. Lewin; 6. Egyptian mummification with evisceration per ano Theodore A. Reymam and William H. Peck; Part II. Mummies of the Americas: 7. Mummies and mummification practices in the southwestern and southern United States Mahmoud Y. El-Najjar, Thomas M. J. Mulinski and Karl J. Reinhard; 8. Aleutian and Alaskan mummies Michael R. Zimmerman; 9. Mummies of Peru James M. Vreeland Jr; 10. South American mummies: culture and disease Bernardo Arriaza, Felipe Cárdenas-Arroyo, Ekkehard Kleiss and James W. Verano; Part III. Mummies of the World: 11. Bog bodies of Denmark and northwestern Europe Christian Fischer; 12. Mummies of Italy, North Africa and the Canary Islands Antonio Ascenzi, Paolo Bianco, Gino Fornaciari and Conrado Rodríguez Martín; 13. Mummification in Australia and Melanesia Graeme L. Pretty and Angela Calder; 14. Mummies from Japan and China Kiyohiko Sakurai, Tamotsu Ogata, Iwataro Morimoto, Peng Long-xiang and Wu Zhong-bi; 15. Mummies from cold regions J. P. Hart-Hansen; Part IV. Mummies and Technology: 16. New investigative techniques Theodore A. Reyman, Henrik Nielsen, Derek N. H. Notman, Karl J. Reinhard, Edmund Tapp and Tony Waldron; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"This book is a rich source for information on ancient diseases...Mummies Disease and Ancient Cultures achieves a good balance of detail with general facts, and it is well written, well illustrated, and well priced." Keith Dobney, Discovering Archaeology

"...this is impresively solid science and scholarship. The bibliographies are complete...This volume is very highly recommended indeed!" Bulletin of the History of Medicine

"The second edition of Mummies, Disease, and Ancient Cultures remains, just as with the first, a valuable resource to the professional and novice interested in mummy studies...Overall the edition is a success. It could be used for an introductory course on mummification practices or merely as a resource. It is not guaged to the novice, but the beginner and the professional should welcome it to their collection as a helpful nd highly informative edition to their library." SAS Bulletin

"The second edition of Mummies, Disease, and Ancient Cultures remains, just as with the first, a valuable resource to the professional and novice interested in mummy studies...Overall the edition is a success. It could be used for an introductory course on mummification practices or merely as a resource. It is not gauged to the novice, but the beginner and the professional should welcome it to their collection as a helpful and highly informative edition to their library." SAS Bulletin

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