Powerhouse goes Egyptian

Egyptian Mummies: Exploring Ancient Lives is to open at the Powerhouse on 10 December.

The idea is they are taking six mummies from the British Museum collection who lived and died in Egypt between 1800 and 3000 years ago and displaying them alongside their 3D CT scan visualisations.

Although these mummies are still wrapped, technological developments have enabled curators and researchers to virtually explore the lives of six ancient Egyptians and reveal the secrets of the mummies while preserving and respecting their original condition.

I can’t help but wonder why this exhibition is being put on by MAAS and not the Nicholson Museum or the Australian Museum, both of which have Egyptian collections. Egyptian mummies are pretty certain to pull people through the doors of a museum, but they don’t seem to be a fit with the MAAS mission. I was hoping that the MAAS had regained some focus and the days of putting on shows tied to movies but only tenuously tied to actual science were behind them. Although this exhibition clearly involves science, it’s much more about archaeology which is not what MAAS is all about.

Anyway, regardless of whether it is an appropriate use of MAAS‘ time and energy, it does sound interesting.

The exhibition is free to MAAS members. Otherwise tickets are available through Ticketek. All the carefully preserved details are here.

Image: © Trustees of the British Museum.