Mummies, Disease and Ancient Cultures

By Theodore A. Reyman, Aiden Cockburn, Eve Cockburn, et al.

Book 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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521589541
• ISBN13: 9780521589543
• Release Date: May 1998
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 428 Pages
• Weight: 2.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 7.4" x 9.7"

Customer Reviews

Fascinating and thorough

This book is an excellent and multi-faceted exploration into the world of mummies and paleopathology. It is not a light read (if you're looking for that, try "The Mummy Congress" by Heather Pringle, which is a great intro) but it is thorough and absolutely fascinating. If you're not familiar with medical terms then you might want to look a few terms up as you read. Awesome book, highly recommended.

And the dead do speak....

This book was used as a text in a college course on Mummies. The amount of information is not daunting, but it is complete. Very interesting, and the author's are recognized authorities on the subject. Its a good read, especially if you want to separate the fact from fiction when learning about mummies.

A Facinating Journey Through Human History!!

I absolutely loved this book! The topic of mummies brings to mind Boris Karloff and the horror flicks. This book makes these amasing finds real...and HUMAN! I found the scholarship to be seemingly complete and accurate and even as a Lay-Person, I could understand what great amounts of information humankind was gleening from the mummies. In fact, I enjoyed reading this 2nd edition so much, I obtainined the 1st edition to have a look at "The Classic" work itself. A truly great adventure.