Casey Kirwan, Civic Engagement Self Reflection - 1665 Words

Casey Kirwan, Civic Engagement Self-Reflection Essay, July 13, 2015. At the beginning of this summer, I embarked on a journey through history by going to the Carnegie Museum of Art and Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The museum is one of my favorites because of its variety of exhibits of history in both science and art. With every trip, the museum always has something new to offer. Going to the museum felt like a completely new experience with the new perspective I have coming from this class. There were many parts of history to look at, but the ones that stood out to me the most was their exhibit on Ancient Egypt. I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit’s information on the artifacts and the funerary practices of this ancient†¦show more content†¦Going deeper into the exhibit, there was a sarcophagus with a mummy inside in a large display case. The mummy’s head was covered with an Egyptian headpiece. These items particularly were said to be the very firs t that Andrew Carnegie had donated for the Egyptian exhibit. I was a little surprised at how small the body and the sarcophagus were. I learned that this was because people in Egypt at the time often did not grow to be very tall due to malnutrition. On the other side of the display, there is a kind of imitation of what an Egyptian tomb would be like. It had the sarcophagus standing up in the middle and then showed illustrations of different types of items laid out around it such as jewelry, vases, and family heirlooms that were significant to the person who died. Aside from mummifying people, the Egyptians had mummified pets too like dogs and cats. However, animals were mummified as deities rather than their way of properly putting the body at peace. Surprisingly, the display explained that dogs were actually the more popular animal over cats in Egyptian civilization. Turning to leave the exhibit, along the wall were illustrations of a line up of the Egyptian gods and goddesses. Eac h was depicted very differently; some with heads of different animals atop a human body. I obtained a lot of new knowledge by the time I left the exhibit. It was surprising how much information they could fit in this small room. Visiting museums, historical sites, and other places