Dr. Steinhardt showed an incredible collection of slides depicting the commonalities and views of after life in ancient Egyptian and Chinese societies. She showed a lot of slide of tombs that have only recently been excavated that review the ancient burial practices in China. It was a very thought provoking introduction to areas of cultural commonality. The presentation came out of a course that she taught with an expert on ancient Egyptian culture and archeology.

She addressed some questions such as, what are the social effects of a civilization that begins to prepare for the afterlife almost immediately after birth, spends more time preparing for death than living life, and deposits its greatest treasures underground? It was interesting listening to Professor Steinhardt and beginning to see uniquely similar ideologies in two civilizations that had no contact with each other.