"Today, a good century after the first X-rays of mummies, Egyptology has the benefit of all the methods and means at the disposal of forensic medicine. The 'mummy stories' we tell have changed their tone, but they have enjoyed much success, with fantastic scientific and technological results resolving the mysteries of the ancient land of the pharaohs." from the ForewordMummies are the things that fascinate us most about ancient Egypt. But what are mummies? How did the Egyptians create them? And why? What became of the people they once were? We are learning more all the time about the cultural processes surrounding mummification and the medical characteristics of ancient Egyptian mummies. In the first part of Mummies and Death in Egypt Francoise Dunand gives an overview of the history of mummification in Egypt from the prehistoric to the Roman period. She thoroughly describes the preparations of the dead (tombs and their furnishings, funerary offerings, ornamentation of the corpse, coffins, and canopic jars), and she includes a separate chapter on the mummification of animals. She links these various practices and behaviors to the religious beliefs of classical Egypt. In the second part of this book, Roger Lichtenberg, a physician and archaeologist, offers a fascinating narrative of his forensic research on mummies, much of it conducted with a portable X-ray machine on archaeological digs. His findings have revealed new information on the ages of the mummified, their causes of death, and the illnesses and injuries they suffered. Together, Dunand and Lichtenberg provide a state-of-the-art account of the science of mummification and its social and religious context."

English summary: The archaeological exploration of El-Deir (Kharga Oasis, Western Egyptian desert) was undertaken by a French team, starting in 1998. During the course of the ten years of work on the site, five necropolises were discovered. A first ensemble is presented in this volume, which will be followed by five more. The study of the human remains, skeletal and mummified, is combined with analysis of the material constituting the funerary furnishings wood, basketry, ceramics, textiles. These studies contain a wealth of information on a local population whose funerary customs, which can be observed from the Persian period to the 5th century AD, completely belong to the Egyptian tradition. The tombs, mirrors of everyday life, clearly show the differences of lifestyle within this population, which on the whole led modest lives of agriculture and handcraft. French text. French description: L'exploration archeologique du site dEl-Deir (oasis de Kharga, desert occidental d'Egypte) a ete entreprise par une equipe francaise en 1998. Au cours de dix annees de travail sur le site, cinq necropoles ont ete decouvertes. Un premier ensemble est presente dans ce volume, qui sera suivi de cinq autres. Letude des restes humains, momies et squelettes, est associee a celle du materiel constituant le mobilier des tombes, bois, vannerie, ceramique, textiles. Ces etudes apportent une quantite dinformations sur une population locale dont les usages funeraires, observables sur une longue duree (de lepoque perse aux IVe - Ve siecle de notre ere) sinscrivent tout a fait dans la tradition egyptienne. Les tombes, miroir de la vie quotidienne, mettent en evidence les differences de niveau de vie au sein de cette population, dans lensemble modeste, dont les activites etaient principalement agricoles et artisanales.