By Amy Hillard

Immerse yourself in a cultural and scientific journey through Ancient Egypt in an exhibition created by COSI.

Through Sept. 7, COSI invites you on an archaeological dig through lost cities and ancient sites, uncovering and exploring artifacts and art with some of the world’s foremost authorities on Egypt.

The Lost Egypt: Ancient Secrets, Modern Science exhibit took five years to create and includes human and animal mummies, scans, forensic facial reconstructions and other material remains from ancient Egyptian culture.

For research on the exhibit, COSI sent a team of five, including archaeological photographers, reporters, and exhibit developers, to Luxor and Cairo to collect iconic photos, wall art scenes, artifacts and information and to conduct interviews with some of the world’s leading Egyptologists.

 
“With the exhibit and with what we collected, we were looking to show the process of archaeology, what ancient daily life material remains can tell us about who these people were and how they lived,” says Carli Lanfersiek, marketing manager and field reporter who made the trip.

Challenges for the COSI team included the language barrier and gaining permission to closed archaeological sites.

“Because Egypt is an Arabic nation, we had to have a translator with us. COSI also had to get specific permission from the Supreme Council of Antiquities in order to enter closed pyramids,” Lanfersiek adds.

Her favorite experience was interviewing Dr. Mark Lehner, director of Ancient Egyptian Research Associates and one of the founders of the Lost City of Giza. Lehner believes strongly in the education of children about archaeology and the foundation of scientific thought.

“Dr. Lehner feels that you must dig only what you need to uncover the moment. Future generations will have better technology and better methods and we must leave significant amount of opportunity for them,”says Lanfersiek.

Lehner’s findings have significantly contributed to the living conditions, occupations and home life of the pyramid builders. His team has also contributed to modern day medical science in terms of what diseases existed during this time period and what may have caused them.

Lanfersiek says she wants the new exhibit to showcase the process of archaeology as a team effort that combines all career fields from osteologists to GIS specialists to botanists.
The exhibit itself is approximately 5,000 feet long and is divided into four content areas:

 
Orientation Entrance: Visitors will walk down a modern Egyptian street to the archaeological site.

Field Site: Here, guests will explore the tools, techniques and technologies used at the Lost City of the Pyramid Builders on the Giza Plateau.

Ancient Egyptian Culture: View different exhibits that examine mummies and funerary artifacts.

Laboratory: CT scans of human and animal mummies, facial reconstructions and rapid prototypes of ancient Egyptians are displayed to help understand this civilization.

These themed areas include 44 graphic panels, two computer interactive stops, seven videos, 15 physical interactive stops, 67 artifacts and eight large photo environments.

 
Exhibits and artifacts featured within the areas include an Aeolian Landscape exhibit, a satellite imaging exhibit featuring video with Dr. Sarah Parcak, an exhibit displaying a full size reproduction of The Rosetta Stone, a human scans and x-rays exhibit highlighting the work of Dr. Jonathan Elias and Dr. Tosha Dupras and, for the first time ever, an exhibit showcasing a rapid prototype of a human mummy, Annie, that allows you to see underneath the wrappings.

“The highlight will be our Egyptian mummy named Annie (anonymous). The rapid prototype of her is a scientific breakthrough, displaying the various stages of the wrappings themselves in addition to x-rays and CT scans,” says Lanfersiek.

The exhibit allows visitors to learn about the scientific process and the development of new technologies while engaging in a real archaeological journey through a grand yet mysterious past.

After making its premier in Columbus, Lost Egypt: Ancient Secrets, Modern Science will travel among the member museums of the Science Museum Exhibit Collaborative through 2011.

For more information regarding the Lost Egypt exhibit, call COSI at 614-228-2674, or visit www.cosi.org.