Earthly Remains: The History and Science of Preserved Human Bodies by Andrew T. Chamberlain  (2)
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The Mummy in Fact, Fiction and Film by Susan D. Cowie
$45.00
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
This vivid, sympathetic account of the world's mummy-making cultures contributes much to the mummy trade, which does such a brisk business these days in books and on programs like National Geographic Explorer and the Discovery Channel that it might seem that there is nothing left to say. Another recent contribution to the genre, Heather Pringle's outstanding The Mummy Congress (Forecasts, May 21), will likely garner more attention this summer, but for its freshness and sensitivity, Reid's should do very well also. Reid, a documentary filmmaker and anthropologist living in England, sets out for exotic regions and vivifies ancient mummy-making cultures, artfully blending living and dead voices. He cites ancient scribes like Herodotus, Tacitus and the Babylonian author of the Gilgamesh epic, alongside accounts of and by the living descendents of mummy makers. Primarily, he seeks to understand "the paths that [these cultures] may have intended to tread beyond life" by examining "the bodies themselves, their attire and tomb accoutrements." Reid visits with the Maku in the Amazon to unravel the mystery of the Chinchorros of Peru, whose mummifying culture predates Egypt's. At a winter camp in southwest Siberia, he learns about the burial rites of the Kazakh nomads' warlord ancestors. He investigates the bog bodies of northern Europe; the peoples who established the Silk Route in China, whose mummies show evidence of an ancient European influence in the East; and the Guanches of the Canary Islands, who shared unexpected cultural links with the Egyptians. This intellectual adventure story focuses as much on life as on death; indeed, the way a culture regards death, the author implies, says much about how it regards life. (Aug.) Forecast: The Mummy Congress might steal this book's thunder, which would be a shame, as this deserves wide readership.
From Library Journal
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. With this book, Reid has accomplished the task of bringing little-known cultures to a wide readership. In striving, as he does, for the broadest perspectives "from the anthropological and psychological to the purely spiritual," Reid takes us on a personal journey written in an engaging style. This book should appeal widely to lay readers. For history and travel collections. Joan W. Gartland, Detroit P.L.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
This vivid, sympathetic account of the world's mummy-making cultures contributes much to the mummy trade, which does such a brisk business these days in books and on programs like National Geographic Explorer and the Discovery Channel that it might seem that there is nothing left to say. Another recent contribution to the genre, Heather Pringle's outstanding The Mummy Congress (Forecasts, May 21), will likely garner more attention this summer, but for its freshness and sensitivity, Reid's should do very well also. Reid, a documentary filmmaker and anthropologist living in England, sets out for exotic regions and vivifies ancient mummy-making cultures, artfully blending living and dead voices. He cites ancient scribes like Herodotus, Tacitus and the Babylonian author of the Gilgamesh epic, alongside accounts of and by the living descendents of mummy makers. Primarily, he seeks to understand "the paths that [these cultures] may have intended to tread beyond life" by examining "the bodies themselves, their attire and tomb accoutrements." Reid visits with the Maku in the Amazon to unravel the mystery of the Chinchorros of Peru, whose mummifying culture predates Egypt's. At a winter camp in southwest Siberia, he learns about the burial rites of the Kazakh nomads' warlord ancestors. He investigates the bog bodies of northern Europe; the peoples who established the Silk Route in China, whose mummies show evidence of an ancient European influence in the East; and the Guanches of the Canary Islands, who shared unexpected cultural links with the Egyptians. This intellectual adventure story focuses as much on life as on death; indeed, the way a culture regards death, the author implies, says much about how it regards life. (Aug.) Forecast: The Mummy Congress might steal this book's thunder, which would be a shame, as this deserves wide readership.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
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. With this book, Reid has accomplished the task of bringing little-known cultures to a wide readership. In striving, as he does, for the broadest perspectives "from the anthropological and psychological to the purely spiritual," Reid takes us on a personal journey written in an engaging style. This book should appeal widely to lay readers. For history and travel collections. Joan W. Gartland, Detroit P.L.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
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