Caroline Rocheleau is curating What in the World Is a Grain Mummy? to present this humble bundle and its falcon-shaped coffin for the first time and to unravel the mysteries of the NCMA’s only Egyptian mummy.
The exhibition focuses on how the scientific method was used to re-establish a questionable item as a genuine Egyptian object. It also delves into the concept of grain mummies; explains their role in ancient Egyptian funerary religion; and discusses the importance of emmer wheat and barley in ancient Egyptians’ diet, economy, and religion.
The exhibition also explores why the grain mummy was once confused with a falcon mummy and compares it to an actual ancient Egyptian falcon mummy.
July 20, 2019 – January 8, 2020
West Building, near Egyptian Gallery