This blog is a worthwhile read -- it's a critique (and let me add, not a negative one!) of the Discovery Channel program on the search for
Hatshepsut. What's interesting (and may interest y'all) is the analysis he does of the of the film.
He includes interesting tidbits and observations such as:
Next up is the scary "screaming one" (DB320A), and here's another problem with the show. It has fallen victim to Screaming Mummy Syndrome, or SMS.
Normally a mummy's mouth was held tightly shut by the wrappings, but sometimes that didn't happen and the jaw dropped down, so it looks like the
mummy is screaming. You can see that in other Egyptian mummies (such as Unknown Man E from Deir el-Bahri) and most recent bodies, like some of the
desiccated corpses at Palermo, Sicily. It is not, however, the person's final, agonized death scream.
...which is something that's obvious only if you've read a lot about mummies. So now YOU know, and you can bring it up as dinner conversation next
time you're eating with the family.
You can also liven up business lunches with material like:
Some 18th Dynasty queens were mummified with their left hand held high and diagonally across their chest, and several pharaohs have both hands
across their chest.
Okay. Maybe I'm the only one who can get away with that sort of stuff as table conversation (my family's used to it, and I hang out with
archaeology and anthropology students)... but, still, it's an excellent article (with a few typos) and a fascinating read.
www.archaeology.org...