Penn Museum Installs Artifact Lab To Repair Egyptian Human, Animal Mummies

This photo taken Friday, Oct. 19, 2012 shows a hieroglyphic-inscribed slab of wood that comprised part of the coffin of an Egyptian named Ahanakht, circa 2000 B.C. at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia. The newly installed Artifact Lab at the Penn Museum allows visitors to peek behind the scenes as staff members preserve relics from ancient Egypt. Human and animal mummies, as well as the intricately inscribed coffin, are among the items currently undergoing treatment and repair.

In this photo taken Friday, Oct. 19, 2012, a wooden sarcophagus is shown at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia.

This photo taken Friday, Oct. 19, 2012 shows the wrapped feet of a mummified young girl of the Ptolemaic/Roman Period, 332 B.C. -395 A.D. at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia. <AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma>