Mummies and more are on display once again at the Putnam Museum in Davenport, Iowa. The museum recently completed a $50,000 renovation of their permanent Egyptian exhibit, involving two years of research and several weeks of construction. The completely redesigned “Unearthing Ancient Egypt” gallery which opened August 22, 2009 now blends the ancient world with modern technology.
As part of the update, the Putnam’s two resident mummies were sent to Genesis Medical Center in Davenport, Iowa, for full CT scans and analysis. Visitors can discover what was revealed about the mummies during the scanning process through the “Unwrap the Mummies’ Secrets” computer-based touchscreen interactive designed and developed by Silver Oaks.
The interface design mimics the CT scanning process the mummies underwent. Users see the ancient tomb walls being “scanned” with the “neon” CT light and then five different sections for exploration appear: “Know Your Mummies,” “I-Spy,” “Mummy ID Lab,” “Making Faces” and a “Video Gallery.” The first four sections combine images and descriptive text exploring what scientists were able to discover about the mummies from the CT scans. Users can guess the mummies’ gender, examine different highlighted distinguishing characteristics and see what the female mummy may have looked like in life. The Video Gallery has four short videos that document the mummies’ trip through the scanner, an examination of what was discovered about each mummy, and what they learned about animal mummies.
Christina Kastell, the Putnam Museum’s Curator of History and Anthropology, said “Silver Oaks did a great job of working with the Putnam to develop the interactive for our Egypt gallery. They were as interested in the project as we were, and created a look that was perfect for the content and the exhibit. They went out of their way to see that our project was a success.”
To learn more about the “Unearthing Ancient Egypt” exhibit at the Putnam Museum, or for help in planning a visit, go to www.putnam.org.
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