Q 01/05

The English word 'mummy' ultimately comes from a Persian word for what?

A) Asphalt

B) Linen

C) Desert

D) Tomb

Answer · why

A) Asphalt

Arabic mūmiya meant both an embalmed corpse and the bituminous embalming substance; the Persian root mūm means wax.

Q 02/05

Roughly how many animal mummies have been found in Egypt?

A) Fewer than 1,000

B) Over one million

C) About 10,000

D) About 100,000

Answer · why

B) Over one million

Many are cats; many more are sacred ibises, dated to roughly 450–250 BC.

Q 03/05

In 1890, about 180,000 mummified cats were shipped from Egypt to England to be used as what?

A) Paint pigment

B) Museum exhibits

C) Fertilizer

D) Fuel for trains

Answer · why

C) Fertilizer

The Victorians treated mummies as raw material as often as relics.

Q 04/05

The Chinchorro, makers of the oldest deliberately prepared mummies, lived in which modern country?

A) Egypt

B) Peru

C) Mexico

D) Chile

Answer · why

D) Chile

Their mummies come in black, red, mud-coated and bandaged styles; the oldest dates to around 5050 BC.

Q 05/05

The Spirit Cave mummies, dated at more than 9,400 years old, were found in which US state?

A) Nevada

B) Arizona

C) Utah

D) Texas

Answer · why

A) Nevada

Their dating pushed the oldest deliberate mummification in the Americas well before the Chinchorro child.