The Mummy in Ancient Egypt: Equipping the Dead for Eternity
Ikram, an Egyptologist, and Dodson, an archaeologist specializing in Egyptian funerary practices and aspects of dynastic history, combine to produce a comprehensive account of how Egyptian mummies were made, wrapped, adorned and sheltered for an afterlife.  Their story covers 33 dynasties and a span of some 3,000 years, beginning about 3050 B.C. The 485 illustrations show tombs, mummies, the mummifiers' methods of embalming and many funerary accessories.  "Everything," the authors say, "depended on the Egyptian belief in eternal life, and the need to provide for it."  The account also traces the study of mummies from the often clumsy procedures of the 19th century to the x-rays, CT scans, endoscopy, scanning electron microscopy and DNA-testing techniques available today.