Every year we uncover some new ancient curiosity from times long forgotten. Just this week a mummy was examined with x-ray technology, revealing it to be a five year old girl. Her mummy contained a mysterious object wrapped inside with her, believed to be a gemstone included because she was damaged during the mummification process - a sacred apology to the gods for harming the girl’s body, her conduit to the afterlife.

So many thousands of years ago, a family was struck with the grief of losing a child, and saw to it that she was celebrated and adorned with beautiful things. A beautiful portrait was painted on the outside. Perhaps this portrait was to show the gods how beautiful she would have been had she lived on to adulthood.

Artifacts in this world are surrounded by life’s energy, and it is so much more than the object itself. All wrapped up in one artifact is possibly the grief of the parents, the talent of the artists, the care of the embalmers, and the entire existence of one little girl - and that’s the power of love, preserved and celebrated.

History lives on through these precious artifacts, and science teaches us more every day about the beauty that existed before us.