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The British Museum
Course: The British Museum > Unit 1
Lesson 2: Ancient Egypt- Ancient Egypt
- The tomb-chapel of Nebamun
- Paintings from the Tomb-chapel of Nebamun
- A bottle and a toy: Objects from daily life
- Hunefer, Book of the Dead
- The Rosetta Stone
- History uncovered in conserving the Rosetta Stone
- Egyptian mummy portraits
- Ancient Egyptian coffin prepared for the Book of the Dead exhibition at the British Museum
- Ancient Egyptian coffin mask conserved for the Book of the Dead exhibition at the British Museum
- An ancient Egyptian scribal palette in the Book of the Dead exhibition at the British Museum
- Ancient Egyptian baboon deity conserved for the Book of the Dead exhibition at the British Museum
- Ancient Egyptian papyrus in the Book of the Dead Exhibition
- Ancient Egyptian coffin panel prepared for the Book of the Dead exhibition at the British Museum
- Gebelein Man: virtual autopsy, exploring a natural mummy from early Egypt
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Ancient Egyptian coffin prepared for the Book of the Dead exhibition at the British Museum
Conservators at the British Museum preparing an ancient Egyptian coffin for display in the exhibition Journey through the afterlife: ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. © Trustees of the British Museum. Created by British Museum.
Want to join the conversation?
Is "restoration" or "conservation" ever performed on the body/mummy?(6 votes)
Yep! Found a couple examples specifically of mummy restoration/conservation efforts, such as removing salt deposits that seep out of their tissue over time: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/boston-hospital-cleaning-2500-year-old-mummy(3 votes)
So cool i just love ancient egypt!(3 votes)
Does anyone know who is in the Egyptian coffin? Is there like a mummy inside still or have they taken it out and put it on display?(3 votes)
Are mummies allow to appear in a public exhibition?(2 votes)
Since mummies are the remains of those who are long dead, they can hardly object to being displayed in public.(1 vote)
Why do they wrap the body so much?(1 vote)- The many wrappings indicate the wealth of the one wrapped, and the high regard with which the wrappers held that one.(2 votes)
why did she have to seal the tiny crack, I couldn't even notice it?(1 vote)- From the author:The tiny crack meant that a fragment was loose and might break off unless it was secured.(2 votes)
Where would you get that Japanese paper?(1 vote)- This would likely be obtained from a high-class art supply store. There are many types: Kitagata; Awagami; Okawara; Unyuru; Hosho and Aitoh, for example.(2 votes)
- What is the book of the dead?(1 vote)
- Is their someone I can talk to about Coffins from the Saite Period 664 BCE-525 BCE and about the designs of them? Doing a paper for Art history on the Coffin of Usermontu. i cant find any info on him directly or what some of the work on his coffin means. Please any help would be appreciated.(1 vote)
- I took a quick peek and am not seeing much either. You might want to look through back issues of the The Met's bulletin, you might get lucky.(1 vote)
Do you take a yearly tour to Egypt? I need more info on classes about Egyptology, Ancient Egypt: a hobby of mine since I was a child.(1 vote)- Here's a list of free online classes on egyptology for you.
https://www.classcentral.com/tag/egyptology(1 vote)
Video transcript
British Museum conservators doing what they do best looking after objects that are thousands of years old Lin has found a loose piece of paint on this coffin that needs sealing down she applies white spirit to the Troublesome area so that the glue she is about to use will penetrate deep into the crack making a fine point on her brush she is ready to apply the glue the brush only needs to touch the cracked area and the glue is sucked up now all she needs to do is lightly rub her finger over some Japanese paper and the cracked paint is history