InTheArtifactLab

LG: We're all heartbroken—not only about what's happening to the artifacts, but to the people there as well. The American Institute for Conservation has issued the following call to action.

We also know our many brave colleagues in those areas are doing whatever they can to protect the world's heritage—sometimes at the risk of their own lives.

MG: Actually not a weird question—lots of visitors ask us that. Most of the mummies in the lab don't smell at all. In fact, our oldest Egyptian mummy has kind of a nice smell. It's been characterized as sweet-smelling, almost like maple syrup or honey.

But I did work on a mummy last year that smelled pretty bad. This is due to the fact that the mummy had likely not had all of his internal organs removed, which may have caused extensive degradation of the body. This mummy was autopsied in the 1970s (a good example of treatment that we DON'T perform anymore), which confirmed the presence of those organs; here's a before and after shot of the conservation treatment we performed here in the lab in 2013.

MG: Maybe not "paranormal" but a feeling of connection with the past. We sometimes see fingerprints, hairs caught into weaving, and it's impossible to not feel a little chill.

LG and MG: One horse-sized duck mummy! No hesitation. In fact ,we would be eager to treat this specimen.

MG: Whatever it was, I hope that nobody saw it.

Seriously, though, we have really great, giant light trolleys that we can move around the lab to illuminate our workspaces. I often hit my head on them when I stand up, forgetting that they're there, much to the amusement of our visitors.