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Mummified: The Stories Behind Egyptian Mummies in Museums
Mummified explores the curious, unsettling and controversial cases of mummies held in French and British museums. From powdered mummies eaten as medicine to mummies unrolled in public, dissected for race studies and DNA-tested in modern laboratories, there is a lot more to these ancient remains than first meets the eye. This book takes you on a journey from Paris to London, Leicester and Manchester, from the apothecaries of the Middle Ages to the dissecting tables of the eighteenth century, and finally behind the screen of today's computers, to revisit the stories of these bodies that have fascinated Europeans for so long.
Mummified investigates matters of life and death, of collecting and viewing, and of interactions - sometimes violent and sometimes emotional - that question the essence of what makes us human.
Mummified investigates matters of life and death, of collecting and viewing, and of interactions - sometimes violent and sometimes emotional - that question the essence of what makes us human.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published June 7, 2022
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705 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
January 28, 2023
Non-fiction very rarely gets put on my ‘best of the year’ goodreads shelf, but Mummified by Angela Stienne is without a doubt one of the most fascinating and compelling books I’ve ever read.
I’ve been interested in Ancient Egypt ever since doing a school project back in the 80’s, so I was delighted when Manchester University Press kindly offered to send me a copy of this incredibly important book.
Slowly but surely, as I was reading, I started to realise that my knowledge and understanding of museums and what they historically stood for was becoming completely unraveled, a bit like the Mummies themselves. I’ve never thought about the display of these corpses and body parts in museums as being questionable and disrespectful, I saw them as history to be learned from.
Like many, I’ve always had a (morbid) curiosity about such things, but the shocking revelations within these pages have changed my mindset, so much is saddening and morally wrong, why didn’t I realise this until now?
A big part of this book covers the subject of race and white supremacy, a subject that is sadly seen in today’s society. There is still so much we need to learn, and this book can teach us.
I admit that I wanted to read this not just because of the historical content, but because it sounded macabre, and it certainly has lots to feed ones interest.
When I next visit a museum, or see archeological articles relating to the discovery of ancient burial sites, wherever in the world they may be, I will be seeing them with new eyes, I will be reading between the lines.
Histories really are horrible, for reasons of greed, disrespect, ignorance and one-upmanship.
Mummified potentially has the power to re-educate, every school/college/university library should have multiple copies.
I’ve been interested in Ancient Egypt ever since doing a school project back in the 80’s, so I was delighted when Manchester University Press kindly offered to send me a copy of this incredibly important book.
Slowly but surely, as I was reading, I started to realise that my knowledge and understanding of museums and what they historically stood for was becoming completely unraveled, a bit like the Mummies themselves. I’ve never thought about the display of these corpses and body parts in museums as being questionable and disrespectful, I saw them as history to be learned from.
Like many, I’ve always had a (morbid) curiosity about such things, but the shocking revelations within these pages have changed my mindset, so much is saddening and morally wrong, why didn’t I realise this until now?
A big part of this book covers the subject of race and white supremacy, a subject that is sadly seen in today’s society. There is still so much we need to learn, and this book can teach us.
I admit that I wanted to read this not just because of the historical content, but because it sounded macabre, and it certainly has lots to feed ones interest.
When I next visit a museum, or see archeological articles relating to the discovery of ancient burial sites, wherever in the world they may be, I will be seeing them with new eyes, I will be reading between the lines.
Histories really are horrible, for reasons of greed, disrespect, ignorance and one-upmanship.
Mummified potentially has the power to re-educate, every school/college/university library should have multiple copies.
February 9, 2023
I think this is essential reading for the 2020s and museum ethics - asking essential questions about why we are so intrigued by mummies and the ethics of display as well as the basic understanding that these are dead human beings and the history of their status as objects, and the continued disrespect to the human body as a form of colonial violence and how eugenics/science is used in the museum still to this day carrying out racist beliefs about the body and Africa. This kind of book, that looks at the history of collecting mummies really shows what the museum needs to change - especially in sites of the 'postcolonial' like British and French museums. I really loved the writing and it felt educational, but absolutely intriguing and engaging. It inspired some ideas for my dissertation as well so thank you Dr. Stienne.
June 20, 2025
"The Egyptian mummy is death and life embodied; it is the rare opportunity to go and visit death, time after time. Today, you can buy a museum ticket, enter a cold museum room and see a future that is yours (death), but also so different from yours (unless you plan on being mummified), and should probably not be yours (should you really stare at this dead person? Would you want thousands of people to stare at you when you're dead?)."
Thanks to the new releases table at Strand, I was introduced to Stienne's incredibly important book about the ethics of possession and display of extra-European human bodies by, primarily, British and French institutions, told through the author's own experiences as a museum-goer and worker, as well as horror stories of European theft and misappropriation. The beginning portion of the book asks the reader to recall, if they have experienced such a thing, their first time seeing an Egyptian mummy: did you feel awe at seeing the existence of a 3,000-year-old person made material, beyond pottery shards, monumental obelisks, or funerary friezes? Discomfort at the knowledge you're viewing a corpse? The desire to know more of their world and life, unsatisfied by what you've already been given to see?
For me, I only have a vague recollection of my first experience, since I was very young. But what I do remember is 2022, visiting the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Interested in seeing their exhibits on rocks, bugs, and fossils, I was shocked when I rounded a corner to find a small, 90s-era room of miscellaneous Egyptian artefacts, including what was labeled as the "Poor Woman's Mummy," so called because her wrappings and mummification were considered badly done, and must have been a result of her lackluster economic status in life (later proved wrong after inquiry showed she was actually a millennia younger than they thought, from a different era of mummification practices; they discovered this in 2018, but when I went in 2022, I recall no such context displayed).
Either way, poor or rich, she was stuck in the corner of a rather small museum, an unimaginable continent away from her home, labelled in such a way, and displayed in a coffin that wasn't hers, either (it predated her by about 600 years). She was also purchased in the 20th century. Purchased!
I am a lover of learning, and, despite their myriad flaws (courtesy of the humans curating them), museums as well. They offer a place to incite interest in our world in those that might not have the experience otherwise. But displaying an ammonite impression and a human being, no matter how remote their life was from our own, is leagues apart. As a child, I do remember feeling some level of uneasy wonder—now, it verges on horror, not at the presence of death, but at the presence of blatant disregard for the humanity of, well, a human. She's a human. Remember?
This goes beyond Egyptian mummies, too. In 2004, the Museum of High Altitude Archaeology in Argentina was founded to keep Incan mummies found on the Llullaillaco volcano, despite criticisms from local indigenous peoples to whom these children hail from; a 7-year-old boy and 6- and 15-year-old girls—whose circumstances surrounding their deaths make the exhibition of their bodies especially horrific, and for what? That's what this books asks. Why?
And, more pressingly, what can we do differently?
Thanks to the new releases table at Strand, I was introduced to Stienne's incredibly important book about the ethics of possession and display of extra-European human bodies by, primarily, British and French institutions, told through the author's own experiences as a museum-goer and worker, as well as horror stories of European theft and misappropriation. The beginning portion of the book asks the reader to recall, if they have experienced such a thing, their first time seeing an Egyptian mummy: did you feel awe at seeing the existence of a 3,000-year-old person made material, beyond pottery shards, monumental obelisks, or funerary friezes? Discomfort at the knowledge you're viewing a corpse? The desire to know more of their world and life, unsatisfied by what you've already been given to see?
For me, I only have a vague recollection of my first experience, since I was very young. But what I do remember is 2022, visiting the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Interested in seeing their exhibits on rocks, bugs, and fossils, I was shocked when I rounded a corner to find a small, 90s-era room of miscellaneous Egyptian artefacts, including what was labeled as the "Poor Woman's Mummy," so called because her wrappings and mummification were considered badly done, and must have been a result of her lackluster economic status in life (later proved wrong after inquiry showed she was actually a millennia younger than they thought, from a different era of mummification practices; they discovered this in 2018, but when I went in 2022, I recall no such context displayed).
Either way, poor or rich, she was stuck in the corner of a rather small museum, an unimaginable continent away from her home, labelled in such a way, and displayed in a coffin that wasn't hers, either (it predated her by about 600 years). She was also purchased in the 20th century. Purchased!
I am a lover of learning, and, despite their myriad flaws (courtesy of the humans curating them), museums as well. They offer a place to incite interest in our world in those that might not have the experience otherwise. But displaying an ammonite impression and a human being, no matter how remote their life was from our own, is leagues apart. As a child, I do remember feeling some level of uneasy wonder—now, it verges on horror, not at the presence of death, but at the presence of blatant disregard for the humanity of, well, a human. She's a human. Remember?
This goes beyond Egyptian mummies, too. In 2004, the Museum of High Altitude Archaeology in Argentina was founded to keep Incan mummies found on the Llullaillaco volcano, despite criticisms from local indigenous peoples to whom these children hail from; a 7-year-old boy and 6- and 15-year-old girls—whose circumstances surrounding their deaths make the exhibition of their bodies especially horrific, and for what? That's what this books asks. Why?
And, more pressingly, what can we do differently?
October 21, 2022
This was well-informed, well-researched and enlightening read that definitely raised some very interesting questions and offered new ways of looking at mummies and their future in our museum. I feel the arguments could have been more well structured and there were some that could have been stronger but nonetheless I really enjoyed this very informative read. I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in (the history of showcasing) mummies and/or human remains in western museums as well as to those who might work in a museum that holds human remains. You will not be disappointed.
July 20, 2025
A fascinating and much-needed discussion - I expect this to make my best books of the year!
June 19, 2023
Just fascinating - so much information I'm baffled my Egyptology degree didn't cover and has cemented my discomfort with exhibited mummies!
The chapter connecting Egyptology to Eugenics was particularly hard to swallow but an important part of history to uncover
The chapter connecting Egyptology to Eugenics was particularly hard to swallow but an important part of history to uncover
November 17, 2025
I have wanted to read this book for such a long time to honour my Egyptian roots. My family took me to the British Museum a lot as a child to show me our history and heritage. I always found the display of mummies to be extremely uncomfortable, and as I have grown up, I now understand that feeling of horror is an insight into the dehumanisation of colonialism.
This book is the first book I know to peel back the layers of racism, entitlement and prejudice by some of the most well-known proponents of Egyptology, and by the very study itself. Our heritage has always been a western study, has always been pulled out of our hands and given European thought and life, as if Egyptians do not care about our culture. I had to take this book slowly, as I was upset so often by these macabre, disrespectful stories and actions, small pieces of history slotting into an overall picture of displacement. Thank you Angela, for these words and for seeing mummies as they are - real people, displaced from their homeland. Your continued dedication to education and museum ethics, getting people to rethink how they view these bodies, means the world.
This book is the first book I know to peel back the layers of racism, entitlement and prejudice by some of the most well-known proponents of Egyptology, and by the very study itself. Our heritage has always been a western study, has always been pulled out of our hands and given European thought and life, as if Egyptians do not care about our culture. I had to take this book slowly, as I was upset so often by these macabre, disrespectful stories and actions, small pieces of history slotting into an overall picture of displacement. Thank you Angela, for these words and for seeing mummies as they are - real people, displaced from their homeland. Your continued dedication to education and museum ethics, getting people to rethink how they view these bodies, means the world.
January 6, 2024
Found this to be a very illuminating and excavating read! I've been interested in Egypt and mummified people since I was a kid, and I am finding it really useful and difficult in examining why we feel like they are both human and object and treat them differently (with less respect) than other human remains. They also mention many museums I've been to and exhibits I've seen, focusing on England and France. I highlighted, annotated, and dog-earred the heck out of this, which means I loved it! I'm definitely going to assign some chapters of it to my students this semester. Overall, 4.5/5 stars--it gets a little bogged down sometimes in the details of who transferred the body to who. I would also love to have seen more inclusion of modern Egyptian voices throughout.
July 15, 2022
4.5 I think. Incredibly informative and infuriating (in a good way), I will take many lessons from it into my own professional practice in a medical museum. The author's humanity and empathy when working with human remains is something all museum people should aspire to. One thing I did struggle with was the font size. It was a little small and hard on the eyes, so I had to read it in many small sittings.
January 28, 2024
Incredible. An elegantly written, thought provoking discussion about the handling and display of human remains.
February 3, 2023
Have you ever wondered how an Ancient Egyptian, mummified and buried thousands of years ago and thousands of miles away, ended up in a museum in Europe or England? How would the Ancient Egyptians have felt about their bodies being displaced, unrolled, dissected (sometimes for eugenics or entertainment) and displayed for all to see? Or even left to rot or thrown away?!
This book takes you through the ethically dubious acquisition of mummified bodies and human remains, and whether or not it’s acceptable to have cadavers on display in public for all to see. Without preaching or dictating how you should feel, Angela Stienne provides you with the facts written in an engaging narrative and allows you to make your own conclusions.
This book takes you through the ethically dubious acquisition of mummified bodies and human remains, and whether or not it’s acceptable to have cadavers on display in public for all to see. Without preaching or dictating how you should feel, Angela Stienne provides you with the facts written in an engaging narrative and allows you to make your own conclusions.
November 15, 2025
very interesting book on that made you think hard about how museums display ancient egypt and particularly mummies. I like how it brought in and explored the wider context of 18th and 19th centuries 'freak shows'. tone of the book became q informal in last couple of chapters
April 16, 2023
Such a brilliant book! I highly recommend.
August 27, 2025
A really informative and empathetic discussion about the ethics of displaying and curating human remains, and a thoughtful exploration of what ancient Egyptian mummies mean to us and why. A must read for any Egyptologist :).
February 18, 2023
Important and fascinating discussion. A bit dry/academic at times, but still accessible.
July 27, 2025
An accessible and interesting exploration of the collection and use of mummies - concerned as much with politics, power, and racism as archaeology and science, and of course with their many interactions. A useful contribution to ongoing discussions about the role of museums and attitudes to different sets of human remains.
January 29, 2025
This book creates a deeply engaging narrative that follows mummy's in museums right from the start of the tradition through to today. The perspective of someone who has partially worked in France as well as the UK introduced me to new case studies and concepts that I hadn’t considered before and really enjoyed learning about. However, I wish these case studies had been tied more explicitly to wider ideas and opinions relating to the industries display of mummies. Additionally, I felt that we sometimes jumped between them without enough cohesion. This did translate as the writer being passionate about the subject which always helps with my reading engagement but it did lead me to feeling a little lost in places.
February 12, 2025
Absolutely brilliant. Very engaging and informative. Stienne has done a marvellous job collating all of these stories, cases and theories to create a text that has been a huge contributor to my research (and motivation) for my degree.
July 15, 2022
Incredible, spectacular, fascinating read. Loved every moment. :3
July 16, 2022
A very engaging and thought provoking read.
November 21, 2022
This was perf for helping me jn my current essay topic! Super interesting, an easy read! 🥰
November 26, 2025
In this nonfiction book, the author talks about the history of how mummies ended up in museums and questions where it should go. Spoiler alert: white people stole them, disrespected their bodies by unwrapping them, and tried to convince people they were white since they were so rich.
This book was absolutely fascinating and makes you truly think about museums today, but especially in the past. Ir makes you think about the line of exploitation vs education vs preservation.
The first half of this one was stronger than the second half for me. The author tended to push the same point over and over again that it became repetitive.
This book was absolutely fascinating and makes you truly think about museums today, but especially in the past. Ir makes you think about the line of exploitation vs education vs preservation.
The first half of this one was stronger than the second half for me. The author tended to push the same point over and over again that it became repetitive.
December 26, 2023
This is a MUST read for the cultural heritage sector. Yes, there’s plenty of books around this topic, but most are too hard to even get through page 1, and I honestly find most people in museums willing to delve into academic books. This is neither of those, and it makes for engaging reading and - hopefully - will make you think! This sector needs to do better. And we need to reckon with centuries of abuse and colonialism in how and what we collect.
March 4, 2024
An interesting history of the reception of mummies in European museums, and how we view them. A central point that Stienne wants to get across is that mummies are displaced bodies.
As spectators in museums we need to ask ourselves "why?" Why do we want to view dead bodies? Why are the bodies displayed? Are there any alternatives?
Fascinating to read about the long history of othering and racism that the study of mummies and Ancient Egypt have led to (not surprising though).
As spectators in museums we need to ask ourselves "why?" Why do we want to view dead bodies? Why are the bodies displayed? Are there any alternatives?
Fascinating to read about the long history of othering and racism that the study of mummies and Ancient Egypt have led to (not surprising though).
May 20, 2023
A brilliant discussion that examines the modern history of ancient history. It is a rich text and unwraps so much of our approaches to museums and exhibitions. Stienne has a captivating way of writing that explores Egyptian mummies from a perspective that brings anyone along with her. One of the best works of non fiction I’ve ever read.
July 7, 2023
A MUST read for all museum and heritage workers.
June 3, 2025
I love Egyptian history, but this one didn’t really hit the spot for me
February 2, 2024
Angela Stienne is a brilliant writer, able to communicate contemporary ethical dilemmas within her field of expertise in an accessible way with ease. Would definitely recommend and I look forward to her future projects!
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews