Philadelphia: Are you my mummy? Print

Mummy

We don’t know if the exhibit will feature wrap music, but Mummies of the World are now on display at Philly’s Franklin Institute.

Maybe more appropriate for Halloween, the 45 ghoulish figures range from a child who died in ancient Peru six thousand years ago to a wealthy German alcoholic who is still perfectly pickled after nearly 400 years. 

For those interested in such creepy statistics, exhibit explainations for how the bodies were preserved include natural conditions, as well as early skills at embalming. Included are demonstrations of state-of-the-art digital research and scanning methods of detecting mummy ages and causes of death. 

Since people like to travel with their pets, some of the mummies are accompanied by preserved dogs, cats and monkeys. For more information about the exhibit and the Franklin Institute, go to www.fi.edu