Date: Saturday March 24, 2012, 1:30 p.m.

Old Kingdom mummy, the oldest true Egyptian mummy in the Western Hemisphere.

Presenter: Dr. Peter Lacovara, Michael C. Carlos Museum

Chapter: Orange County, California, co-sponsored by LACMA

Location: Bowers Museum, Norma Kershaw Auditorium, 2002 N. Main, Santa Ana, California

This lecture is free and open to the public.

Description: Come spend some time with the friendliest looking mummy in the world. Certainly no star of any horror movie, this guy or gal seems to be lounging on the chaise in your back patio. Even if you've seen lots of mummies in person, this one will impress you. For one thing, it's four thousand years old. For another, the pose is unique.

Today's lecture, "Life and Death in the Pyramid Age: The Old Kingdom Mummy at Emory University" will discuss the rediscovery and restoration of Emory's MIchael C. Carlos Museum's forgotten Old Kingdom mummy. Purchased from excavations at the sacred site of Abydos in Middle Egypt by Emory theology professor William A. Shelton in 1920, the mummy is the oldest true Egyptian mummy in the Western Hemisphere and one of no more than half a dozen known to exist in the world. Long unrecognized and forgotten in a storage crate, the mummy has recently been restored by the Museum's conservation lab. The process took many years and research into dusty archives, modern medical technology at Emory University Hospital and new excavations in Egypt.

About the Speaker: Dr. Peter Lacovara Peter Lacovara serves as senior curator of ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern art at the Michael C. Carlos Museum in Atlanta. His responsibilities span the ancient Middle East and northeast Africa, including acquisitions, exhibitions and publication activity. In 1999, Lacovara spearheaded the acquisition of a collection of ancient Egyptian materials from a small museum in Niagara Falls, Canada, and oversaw the reinstallation of the Carlos Museum's galleries to display those objects side-by-side with the Museum's prior holdings.

Dr. Peter Lacovara

Recent special exhibitions curated by Lacovara at the Michael C. Carlos Museum include "Lost Kingdoms of the Nile: Nubian Treasures from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston"; "Excavating Egypt: Great Discoveries from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology," University College, London; "The Collector's Eye: Masterpieces of Egyptian Art from the Thalassic Collection, Ltd."; "Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur; Jewish Life in Ancient Egypt: A Family Archive from the Nile Valley"; and "Ramesses I: The Search for the Lost Pharaoh."

Lacovara formerly served as assistant curator in the Department of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian and Near Eastern Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.