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  • A Mystery from the Mummy-Pits

  • The Amazing Journey of Ankh-Hap
  • By: Frank L. Holt
  • Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
  • Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins
  • 3.0 out of 5 stars (1 rating)

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A Mystery from the Mummy-Pits

By: Frank L. Holt
Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
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Summary

As the world recently commemorated the hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, our fascination with the pharaoh begs for a balanced view. Most recovered mummies have not escaped the modern trafficking in ancient bodies and body parts. The story of Ankh-Hap, a Ptolemaic-era mummy seized in the nineteenth century from the infamous mummy-pits of Egypt, provides a salutary example of what most mummies have endured.

Frank Holt makes use of a robust combination of scientific tools and archival research to tell the story of Ankh-Hap's life, death, and his mummified remains, which ended up in the back of an American college classroom. A Mystery from the Mummy-Pits takes the listener into a forgotten world of mummy trafficking by an American entrepreneur named Henry Augustus Ward. His company's shelves were stocked with mummies, coffins, and even ancient body parts. Customers could piece together their own "Frankenmummy" with authentic wrappings and amulets.

A Mystery from the Mummy-Pits contextualizes this information by surveying the history of similar mummies from antiquity to the twentieth century, moving from ancient tomb robbers and medieval apothecaries to modern dime museums, traveling shows, pulp fiction, films, and pop culture. The book offers listeners a glimpse inside a dark chapter of mummy history.

©2024 Oxford University Press (P)2024 Tantor
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History
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Tomb raiding shenanigans

I had NO IDEA such atrocious mummy retrieval shenanigans went on during this period! Rather than just a mystery, this is more a history of all things Mummies (with an American emphasis). As an adult I found it interesting, but it is also quite accessible for an Egyptian loving child / teenager.

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