10 Famous Preserved Corpses

There was bound to be at least one Egyptian on the list and of course no discussion of famous mummies would be complete without looking at King Tutankhamun. The weird thing to note about Tut is that he isn't even the best-preserved Egyptian mummy, nor the most influential (Rameses the Great, for example, is far better preserved and his reign lasted decades longer).

The reason Tut is so relevant to the study of the long dead is the relatively good condition in which his resting place was kept - tomb raiding had long been an unsung plague of the ancient Egyptians.

Tut's tomb (Tumb?) was discovered in 1922 by an archeological team headed by Howard Carter at the beginning of what is called the modern age of Egyptology. Over the course of eight years the tomb would be studied and emptied of its antiquities.

The famous death mask of Tutankhamun has become something of a cultural icon, as well as the - completely fake - curse of the Pharaoh. Supposedly for disturbing the final resting place of the boy king of Egypt a curse was placed on all the people who entered the tomb. The 'curse' and the vast amount of information and artifacts found on Tut's person are all contributing factors to his status as the world's most well-known mummy.