For more information on Egyptian mummies and the exhibit, Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs, go to www.famsf.org/deyoung or www.tutsanfrancisco.org
Dr. Jonathan Elias, Director, Ahkmim Mummy Studies Consortium:
Interested in archaeological research since childhood, Jonathan Elias has excavated at a variety of ancient Middle Eastern sites, including several in Egypt. He completed his Masters and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago while doing research on systems of magical inscription appearing on Egyptian coffins. This led to a special interest in the city of Akhmim and its ancient people.
He studied his first Akhmimic mummy in 1987 as part of an exhibition developed by the Milwaukee Public Museum. In the years that followed he worked behind the scenes in different aspects of museum research and exhibit development. Since 2001, Dr. Elias has specialized in computed tomography (CT) scanning and high-tech imaging of Egyptian mummies. He currently serves as the Director of the Akhmim Mummy Studies Consortium, an international project coordinating research on the Akhmimic population while promoting CT- based mummy studies and forensic facial reconstructions of the Egyptian population.
