Animal Mummies: What's Inside

This exhibition is now closed.

It was open to the public from 18 May to 17 October 2021.

The exhibition explored what's inside animal mummies from ancient Egypt.

Visitors could examine animal mummies given as gifts to the ancient Egyptian gods and see how modern technology allows Museum scientists to study them.

Scans and X-rays revealed the untold stories of these revered creatures and the way ancient Egyptians lived with these animals and preserved them after their death.

Exhibition highlights:

• Learn about the animals that were sent to the afterlife as mummies: cats, sacred ibis, birds of prey and crocodiles.
• See a sealed 2,400-year-old wooden cat coffin.
• Find out why an unwrapped mummified crocodile with stones in its abdomen is so unusual.
• Spot a handprint on a terracotta jar that contained the mummy of a bird of prey.
• Try out an interactive scanning machine.