You know, mummification seems irrational and superstitious, but from a genetic and identity standpoint, doesn't it make perfect evolutionary sense? If mummies have recoverable DNA and we reconstruct the genome, the individual (or the family, genes overlapping) made a reproductive gamble that worked. And even reconstructing their face, their gait, etc, sends a message through time about who they were, etc. Maybe we shouldn't see mummification as bizarre and desperate so much as we see it as old, cutting-edge tech that wasn't available to everyone yet.

The oddest thing is that what would long since have been dirt is the greatest treasure in the tomb by far. Life still works through it.

(This reminds me of something I learned recently from a museum curator, that treasure was once seen as a particular material, but now we understand it's particular information. A real treasure chest contains bundles I can investigate, puzzle out, absorb, preserve, refashion, resurrect in use.)