Do the Dead Deserve Privacy?

On 3rd October, a team of archaeologists from Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities prised open a sealed sarcophagus to the delight of a gathering crowd. The slumbering mummy had been resting peacefully for some 2,600 years alongside 59 other sarcophagi. All were pulled out of the dark in the Saqqara necropolis, an ancient graveyard south of Cairo.

These mummies are thought to be priests, government officials, and individuals from the upper echelons of Egyptian society. It’s a sight we’re so used to that we don’t even question it. But what does this unearthing millennia…