Miriam Itzkowitz – Year 9

Last Tuesday, Years 9 and 10 Elective History and Years 11 and 12 Ancient History went to visit the Powerhouse Museum with Mr Bell and Ms Lee to see the exhibition Egyptian Mummies: Exploring Ancient Lives, on loan from the British Museum.

In this exhibition, it was explained to us how bodies were mummified and preserved in Ancient Egypt. I found it really interesting how mummification changed over time, as during the Greek and Roman periods certain practices were modified and adopted. For example, the Egyptians placed incredibly detailed and life-like portraits on their mummies during the period of Roman control over Egypt (30BCE-641CE).

One mummy I learnt about was Nestawedjat, a married woman from Thebes. An interesting fact about her mummification was that she had two amulets placed on her neck to protect her in the afterlife – not all mummies had this, which probably meant that she was fairly important. It’s also worth noting that Nestawedjat was thought to be a man when she was originally tested, but through a CT scan it was discovered that she was a woman based on the shape of her pelvis. Her coffin also had her “story to the afterlife” engraved in it. What I find quite fascinating though is the amount of information we can get from a mummy without actually removing the bandages. The exhibition provides us with some great insights on how modern technologies have revealed so much about the life and death of these ancient people.

Nestawedjat’s Inner Coffin

Along with the six mummies, the exhibition boasted over 200 artefacts related to all parts of ancient Egyptian life, including beautiful jewellery, bread (preserved for thousands of years), children’s toys, clothing and many interesting religious statues and items.

I found the Statue of Sekhmet particularly interesting. Sekhmet was a warrior goddess with a lion’s head. Sekhmet was also believed to be able to ward off disease. One of the reasons I found this artefact so interesting was that we know that she had some sort of relation to Ra, but it isn’t clear exactly what the connection was. Some translations say that she was the Daughter of Ra, while others say that she was the Eye of Ra. I thought the statue was really cool because of how well preserved it was and the material it was made of. I find it fascinating considering the skill and effort it must have taken to create such an intricate statue.

Overall, I really enjoyed this excursion to the Powerhouse Museum and am very grateful to Mr Bell and Ms Lee for taking our classes. It was very insightful and educational, I learnt a lot and it was thoroughly enjoyable too.

The exhibition closes on 30 April 2017, so don’t miss out on your chance to see this fascinating exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum! https://maas.museum/event/egyptian-mummies-exploring-ancient-lives/