Mummies from Around the World

Thousands of years ago, their bodies were buried, hidden in the depths of pyramids, wrapped in burial cloths, or left on the tops of snow-capped mountains. But the power of time proved not to be limitless: the mummies survived their own death.

Archaeologist and anthropologist Juliette Kaz embarks on a journey around the world to uncover the secrets of ancient and modern mummification techniques, tracing the path from Egyptian sarcophagi to tiny Amazonian tsantsa heads, from self-immolated Japanese monks to remains found in permafrost. How did people from past eras try to conquer decay? Why do preserved bodies end up in museums? What ethical questions do the remains that have survived centuries pose before us?

This book — is not just a tale of mummification. It is a story about memory, fears and superstitions, about the connection between the past and the present, about people who did not fade into oblivion after death.