Mummies and Tombs

The book, from an Egyptian publisher, comes without some of the paraphernalia we might expect in an information text. The contents page, index and glossary are slight and there is only one, not very helpful, map.

Without a time line, it is difficult to follow the references to different eras of Egyptian history. The illustrations are sketchy. All that said, the text itself, by an Egyptologist at the American University in Cairo, is authoritative and well within the grasp of 8-10 year olds. It is good not only in describing the process of mummification but in stressing the variety of Ancient Egyptian funeral and burial customs and tomb structures; giving space to the poor and middle class dead as well as the rich, and to animal mummification. It offers interesting asides, too, on the fate of mummies in later eras: used as fuel on steam trains, as ship ballast, and as (poisonous) fertilizer.