A Mummy Wrapping of Petosiris: A Two-Thousand-Year Journey

In 2023 the Getty Museum presented the exhibition The Egyptian Book of the Dead, featuring ancient funerary objects inscribed with ritual spells intended to help the deceased achieve a blessed afterlife. Getty produced an in-gallery interactive that explored Egyptian religious concepts of the afterlife and the significance of the Book of the Dead in ancient Egyptian life. By focusing on a single object, a mummy wrapping with Book of the Dead inscriptions of text and images, visitors learned how spells, or instructions for the dead, were meant to invoke the divine and usher the deceased into the afterlife. In-gallery kiosks are an engaging way for visitors to learn and be able to look closely at small or detailed objects, such as this wrapping. But as significantly, we wanted to bring a humanizing perspective to interpretation and storytelling. The person to whom this wrapping belonged—the ancient person buried with it—is known: Petosiris, son of Tetosiris. Moreover, we wanted to be direct in conveying highly sensitive topics such as why mummies were desecrated in the past, and how this mummy wrapping came to be part of the museum’s collection.

The presentation offered two modes of exploration: Watching an animation and interacting with a digital version of the wrapping through touch-screen exploration. In the animation, visitors learned about the mummification process and how wrappings were inscribed and applied to the body. The story continued with Petosiris’s death and funeral, the fate of his mummified body in recent centuries, and how the wrapping came into Getty’s collection. The interactive portion enabled close looking of the small-sized inscriptions, with zoom functionality, as well as interpretation of the depicted scenes and text. Content for the presentation was available in English and Spanish.

We evaluated the in-gallery kiosk experience by conducting a survey during the run of the exhibition. We learned that it appealed to a wide range of visitors, including children, and was easy to comprehend. The interactive allowed users to absorb information at their own pace. The animations sparked curiosity and emotional connection.