skull

A anthropolgist reflects on his life, career, and the 1,000-year journey of 400 Nubian mummies.

In 1979, Prof. Dennis Van Gerven exhumed the bodies of 400 Nubian mummies from the desert in Sudan. They were itinerant farmers in the 6th and 7th centuries BC, but in the three decades after they were excavated, they would go to work again as "messengers from the poor." At the end of his career, Van Gerven reflects on his life with the mummies and their afterlife in the United States speaking to the problems of poverty and discrimination.

A short documentary film produced and written by Christian Hammons. Directed by Eric Coombs Esmail & Christian Hammons. Released in 2018 and premiered at the Los Angeles Independent Filmmakers Showcase Film Festival.

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