LITTLE ROCK — While it's been more than a week since I got a peek at "World of the Pharaohs: Treasures of Egypt Revealed," the massive new exhibit at the Arkansas Arts Center, only as I sit down to write do The Bangles pop into my head. I must be slipping.

Or maybe it's that this is an exhibit that deserves a lot more respect than a campy 1980s pop song (albeit a catchy one) can afford.

Around four years in the making, according to Arts Center Executive Director Nan Plummer, "World of the Pharaohs" is both the largest and longest running exhibit the venerable institution has ever had. It includes more than 200 pieces, from tiny, ornate jars that maybe once held the vogue eye makeup of ancient Egyptian aristocracy to, well, actual representatives of ancient Egyptian aristocracy in the form of two mummies included in the exhibit.

This is where I'd normally put in a Brendan Fraser joke.

But honestly, as you step through the large glass doors leading into the exhibit and gaze down upon the model Nile River leading up to a massive red granite bust of Ramses II (all that remains of a statue that was once 9 feet tall), the jokes kind of fall by the wayside. If ever there were an Ozymandias, surely this is him.

But, mighty or no, you need not look on these works and despair. On the contrary, "exhilaration" would be more appropriate as, after only steps into the huge exhibit, you'll come face to face with honest to Osiris hieroglyphs, faded and worn though they may be. A descriptive panel identifies it as the Decree of Neferirkare, who was having trouble with regional officials bothering the priests and put a foot down to rein in the bureaucrats. Though these folks didn't exactly subscribe to our modern idea of separating church and state (since, you know, the pharaohs were considered living deities), this is still something like it. And it happened thousands of years before our constitution was written.

But that immensity of time isn't so hard to overcome when you browse through all these ancient artifacts. Sure, a Christian-influenced Byzantine marker comes last in the exhibit, marking a symbolic end to the old gods of Egypt, and yes, at 1,500 years old, it's still not as ancient to us as Egypt was to the Byzantines. But the humanity is inherent in the much older artifacts, whether it be a beaded necklace, a simple mallet or the highly decorated, hugely symbolic lid of a coffin.

Part of that is owing to the way of life - or, more specifically, to the way of death - in this so ancient culture. The dead were often buried with items they would use in life so that their eternal spirits would not be without. Thus, a wooden carving of a woman carrying a basket to them ensured the dead would not go hungry. To us, it's a snapshot of the way these people lived 2,000 years before the birth of Christ.

And, no, many times it's really not so different. On one carving, displayed just outside the "tomb room" containing the two mummies, a woman and man are shown together. He's standing tall, she has an arm looped into his and just barely visible on his right shoulder are the fingers of her hand. It's a reassuring, undeniable human gesture no matter the time period.

But just because there may be a few moments of empathy doesn't mean there's a not a lot of exotic distance, too. That's probably most apparent in the same area as the aforementioned carving, where one can find things like canoptic jars, sacred vessels for the innards of mummies. Here too is what could crudely be called mummy bling, solid gold clasps applied to finger- and toenails for preservation. Of course there's also one of those ubiquitous burial masks you've probably seen on billboards or the sides of buses of late, with the wig and the headdress and all. Oh, and there's a mummified kitten. The goddess Bastet liked cats. A lot.

Put simply, though, there's tons to appreciate here, from the slightly eerie shabti (figurines meant to answer for the dead in the spirit world) to a household stool, an affordable not-quite-luxury in a world where wood was a slightly rare and precious commodity. The good news is there's plenty of time to enjoy it. The exhibit will be here through July 2010, and certainly deserves repeat visits in that time.

"World of the Pharaohs: Treasures of Egypt Revealed is now open and continues through July 5, 2010, at the Arkansas Arts Center, located at Ninth and Commerce streets in downtown Little Rock. Tickets are $22 for adults, with discounts for seniors, students, military and children. See http://pharaoh.arkarts.com for full details and gallery hours.