Ancient Artifacts: Here and Now

Oblivious to the discovery that they were soon to find, Egyptologists searched through an ancient cemetery, looking for what is still unknown to the public. Located at the bottom of a 45-foot shaft, staring right back at them was the limestone sarcophagus containing an ancient mummy known as Heka-shepas. "This discovery is so important as it connects the kings with the people living around them," Ali Abu Deshish, another archaeologist on the excavation team, told BBC News. This discovery will increase scientific investigation into how corpses deteriorate and why certain human bodies stay together like Heka-shepas. 

Most people would believe that artifacts would have to be from back then like pyramids, tombs, and mummies. The ancient mummy Heka-shepas was a great discovery, however, other museums have found great discoveries too! For example, a worker at the Indianapolis Children’s Museum, Walker Fisher, states “I came to my job at the Children’s Museum in a very weird way.” He continues, “When I was eight my mom was diagnosed with cancer, and from that day on I said I would be a cancer doctor. However, my mom passed away during my first year in college and it began to hurt me to try and work in hospitals. So I decided to change my plan, and think about what I loved."

He happily states, "I loved coming to the Children’s Museum growing up, and I was good at history. So I decided I would try and get a job at a museum!" He had studied religion, history, and biology, which he knew that were all very different from each other. Except he loved them all. "We are the people who take care of the entire collection of artifacts that the museum owns and has on loan. Most days, I get to work on things in galleries, on objects not on display in storage, and then also in the Archaeology Lab preserving the objects we are working on in there.” He continues with, “The objects we work with come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Our museum is home to nearly 200,000 artifacts–and lots more if you count the things we do not own but are borrowing from other institutions. "

"The coolest part to me though is that when I’m working in the archaeology lab, I have the opportunity to talk to families and kids who are interested in history and archaeology." This is great because the Children's Museum is a place for families and kids to come, so loving to experience being around families is a great trait.  "Someone had to dive underwater and bring the objects out of a shipwreck, someone had to create the process and plan to work on it, and after I’ve cleaned these objects someone else will study them to see what information we can find out about it." He is truly proving that he is very proud of his job and everything it includes. "From there, historians and other social scientists will hopefully use our findings to come to new realizations about the people who originally used the artifacts long, long ago.” 

The ancient mummy Heka-shepas was a great discovery, and could lead to many more! For example, historians are trying to find Cleopatra’s temple and may have already seen it! On March 3rd of 2022, Egyptologots found 360 ceramic pots that had been mummified. This could lead to many discoveries and questions such as: Why would they mummify ceramics? Could these lead to discoveries? What about these ceramics were so important? Heka-shepas was another helpful hint to finding more artifacts. The Indianapolis Children’s Museum has also clearly held the home to amazing discoveries too! Ancient artifacts don’t have to just be from ancient temples and such, they can also be from things like the Civil War and World War 2!