The introduction addresses the question of what, exactly, a mummy is. After asking why people often have difficulty in accepting that mummies are not simply ‘artefacts’, but human remains, it gives a summary of the known facts regarding the process of mummification, from both cultural and scientific perspectives. Observing that the term ‘mummy’ and its variants have been used to mean different things throughout history – from the preserved body itself to the coffin it was kept in, and even a form of powdered medicine – the author argues that the Egyptian mummy is ultimately a social construct. Furthermore, we do not fully understand what the people who practised mummification thought about it.