Rosalie David and Rick Archbold: Conversations with Mummies

Allen and Unwin

$59.95

Rosalie David is a pioneer in Egyptian paleopathology and head of the Manchester Mummy Research Project.

Since 1975, when she conducted Britain's first modern autopsy of an Egyptian mummy, she has worked to marry traditional Egyptology with modern science in order to uncover the many remaining mysteries about life in ancient Egypt.

High-tech autopsies involving CAT scans, x-rays and endoscopes have helped to reveal the often agonising diseases that killed the Egyptians of long ago; and tissue collected from more than 300 mummies may eventually, through the use of DNA testing and electron microscopes, be used to help to provide cures for diseases suffered by modern Egyptians.

This richly illustrated book also reveals the enthusiasm and humanity of the scientists involved in the research as they develop inevitable feelings of connectedness with their subjects.