CyberWorld

Ancient Egyptian mummies still fascinate the young and the old. The term ancient Egyptian mummies conjures an image of a linen wrapped body placed in a coffin. In 1922, historian and archeologist Howard Carter uncovered the tomb of King Tut and ever since, there have been similar excavations of Egyptian tombs and pyramids. The pyramids reveal the culture and the rituals of ancient Egyptians. It is a stark reality, death played an important role in the lives of the ancient Egyptians and they believed in life after death and in eternal life.

The term "mummy" is derived from an Arabic word "mumiyah" which means bitumen. The body of an individual that is preserved after his death is known as a mummy. Mummies have been found in not only Egypt, but also in China, Japan and in South America.

The historical evidences show best preserved mummies of ancient Egypt are that of the pharaohs and the nobles. The technology and the art of mummification reached its height between 1550 BC and 1069 BC.

The tombs of the pharaohs such as Amenhotep II, Thutmose III, Thutmose IV, Tutankhamen, Seti I and Ramses II reveal the importance of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt. The pharaohs were considered as Gods on earth. Hence, the rituals and process of mummification was different compared to that of an ordinary man.

Ancient Egyptian Mummies - Process of Mummification

The ancient Egyptians followed mummification for almost 5000 years. It was a way of respecting the dead. Remember, Egyptians believed in afterlife. They thought the dead need their body to survive in an eternal world. The process of mummification was done in two stages i.e., embalming and wrapping.

The process of embalming varied on the basis of the social strata of the individual. The body of the dead was washed with wine and water from River Nile. This was known as purification.

The embalmers removed the vital organs such as intestines, lungs and the liver from the body. Using long hooks, the brain was removed through the nose. Since the brain was considered to be unimportant, it was not embalmed.

The entire body and the cavity, and the vital organs were embalmed using natron and left to dry for forty days. Natron helped to keep the bacteria at bay and prevented the body from decaying. The vital organs were wrapped in long strips of linen and then placed in jars.

After forty days, the body was cleansed again using anointed oils and perfumes. The head and the body cavity was stuffed with various herbs.

The second process of mummification was wrapping. The body cavity was sewn up. If the mummy belonged to a pharaoh or a noble, the limbs were adorned with gold jewels and amulets. Then the entire body was wrapped with linen. There would be a minimum twenty layers and each layer was sealed with resin glue. The head of the corpse was covered with a mummy mask and the wrapped body was given a final coating of resin glue before being transported to the tomb.

Did you know that the oldest Egyptian mummy dates back to 3500 BC? Historians believe mummies were not made after 5th century AD. However, according to them, around 70 million mummies were made in ancient Egypt in 3000 years.