Detail: Seeking Immortality: Ancient Artifacts features ceramics and other objects from China, Japan, and Korea meant to accompany the dead into the afterlife.

Across the world, the question of how to bury the deceased is an important issue. Concerns with an afterlife and immortality have resulted in troves of artifacts that verify some of these beliefs in other times and places.

In Asia, deliberate mummification did not occur. The deceased were interred in tombs that reflected their status in this life and provided them with all that they might need in the next life, including protection from malevolent spirits. Some objects were used every day, whereas others were created specifically for burial. Often, pottery figures were substitutes for the burial of living servants and animals.

Seeking Immortality: Ancient Artifacts features objects from China, Japan, and Korea meant to accompany the dead into the afterlife. With ceramic replicas of servants and animals, figures meant to provide protection from harm, and more, this special installation explores how archaeology continues to reveal material culture that offers insight into what life and technology were like in ancient times.