Breathing life into death on the Nile

We know the Egyptians through their tombs. Their pyramids are legendary wonders. Their mummified bodies are popular icons. The ghoulish image is so persistent that Egyptologists have taken to reminding us in recent years that this ancient civilization was actually a lively society, not a death cult. With Tombs of Eternity: The Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Que., the pendulum is allowed to swing gently back in its original direction. The show, circulated by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts while that institution undergoes a renovation, successfully explains the Egyptian notion of the afterlife, while dramatically recreating the structure of a tomb.

First, however, we start confusingly with some introductory throat clearing that detracts from the logic and drama of the show's geography: a video about the religious importance of the Nile – why begin an exhibition of priceless ancient artifacts with a video? – and some information about Egyptian political history. But then we are introduced to the figure of George A. Reisner, the Harvard University archeologist who led the American team at the international excavations at Giza, site of the great pyramids. From 1905 to his death in 1942, Reisner dedicated his life to the Egyptian dig, where he helped introduce scientific methods of documentation to a profession that had once been little better than a form of grave robbing.