MUMMIES

Egyptian Mummies

It was very important to ancient Egyptian religious beliefs that the human body was preserved. A method of artificial preservation, called mummification was developed by the ancient Egyptians. Mummification was a complicated and lengthy process which lasted up to 70 days.

What are mummies?

A mummy is the body of a person (or an animal) that has been preserved after death.

Who were the mummies?

They were any Egyptian who could afford to pay for the expensive process of preserving their bodies for the afterlife.

Why did the Egyptians make mummies?

The Egyptians believed in life after death. They believed that they had to preserve their bodies so they could use them in the afterlife.

What is the afterlife?

The Egyptians believed that when they died, they would make a journey to another world where they would lead a new life. They would need all the things they had used when they were alive, so their families would put those things in their graves. Egyptians paid vast amounts of money to have their bodies properly preserved. Egyptians who were poor were buried in the sand whilst the rich ones were buried in a tomb.

What was the name of the process the Egyptians used to preserve their bodies?

It was called mummification.

How were mummies made?

It took a very long time, from start to finish, it took about 70 days to embalm a body. The priest in charge would wear the mask of a jackal representing the god Anubis.

1. The body was washed and purified.
2. Organs were removed. Only the heart remained.
3. The body was filled with stuffing.
4. The body was dried by covering it with a substance called natron*. This substance absorbed all the moisture from the body.
5. After 40 - 50 days the stuffing was removed and replaced with linen or sawdust.
6. The body was wrapped in strands of linen and covered in a sheet called a shroud.
7. The body was placed in a stone coffin called a sarcophagus.

The mummy was now ready for its journey to the afterlife.

What is natron?

Natron is a natural salt, composed of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate with traces of sodium chloride and sodium sulfate. It was used by the ancient egyptians to dry out the bodies.

Why did they leave the heart in the body?

The Egyptians thought the heart was the centre of intelligence and emotion.

Who was the god of mummification?

Anubis was the god of mummification. He had a human body and the head of a jackal. His job was to prepare the bodies of the dead to be received by Osiris.

What objects did they put in Egyptian Tombs?

Ancient Egyptians were buried with their belongings and the tomb walls were painted with scenes from the dead persons life. The objects included furniture, games and even food was placed in the tombs for the long After Life journey!

What are canopic jars?

Canopic Jars were used by ancient Egyptians to hold mummified remains.

Where were Egyptians who were poor buried?

The poor Egyptians were buried in the sand. Only the rich ones were buried in a tomb.

Where were the pharaohs buried?

In the Old and Middle Kingdoms (2628-1638 BC), Egyptian kings were buried in pyramids. About 50 royal pyramids have survived. They were built on the desert edge, west of the ancient capital of Memphis.

What are pyramids?

The pyramids are the stone tombs of Egypt's kings - the Pharaohs.

Why did the Ancient Egyptians build pyramids?

The Egyptians believed that if the pharaoh's body could be mummified after death the pharaoh would live forever. The tombs were designed to protect the buried Pharaoh's body and his belongings.

Animal Mummies

Those were the days of generously funded expeditions that dredged through acres of desert in their quest for royal tombs and for splendid gold and painted masks and coffins to adorn the estates and museums of Europe and America. The many thousands of mummified animals that turned up at sacred sites throughout Egypt were just things to be cleared away to get at the good stuff. Few people studied them, and their importance was generally unrecognized.

In the century since then, archaeology has become less of a trophy hunt and more of a science. Excavators now realize that much of their sites' wealth lies in the multitude of details about ordinary folks—what they did, what they thought, how they prayed. Animal mummies are a big part of that pay dirt.

"They're really manifestations of daily life," says Egyptologist Salima Ikram. "Pets, food, death, religion. They cover everything the Egyptians were concerned with." Specializing in zooarchaeology—the study of ancient animal remains—Ikram has helped launch a new line of research into the cats and other creatures that were preserved with great skill and care. As a professor at the American University in Cairo, she adopted the Egyptian Museum's languishing collection of animal mummies as a research project. After taking precise measurements, peering beneath linen bandages with x-rays, and cataloging her findings, she created a gallery for the collection—a bridge between people today and those of long ago. "You look at these animals, and suddenly you say, Oh, King So-and-So had a pet. I have a pet. And instead of being at a distance of 5,000-plus years, the ancient Egyptians become people."

Today the animal mummies are one of the most popular exhibits in the whole treasure-filled museum. Visitors of all ages, Egyptians and foreigners, press in shoulder to shoulder to get a look. Behind glass panels lie cats wrapped in strips of linen that form diamonds, stripes, squares, and crisscrosses. Shrews in boxes of carved limestone. Rams covered with gilded and beaded casings. A gazelle wrapped in a tattered mat of papyrus, so thoroughly flattened by mummification that Ikram named it Roadkill. A 17-foot, knobby-backed crocodile, buried with baby croc mummies in its mouth. Ibises in bundles with intricate appliqués. Hawks. Fish. Even tiny scarab beetles and the dung balls they ate.

Some were preserved so that the deceased would have companionship in eternity. Ancient Egyptians who could afford it prepared their tombs lavishly, hoping that their assembled personal items, and everything shown in specially commissioned works of art, would magically be available to them after death. Beginning in about 2950 B.C., kings of the 1st dynasty were buried at Abydos with dogs, lions, and donkeys in their funerary complexes. More than 2,500 years later, during the 30th dynasty, a commoner at Abydos named Hapi-men was laid to rest with his small dog curled at his feet.

Mystery of the Tattooed Mummy

An ornately tattooed 1,600-year-old mummy unearthed in Peru could be a warrior queen of the violent Moche people.

The Moche didn't embalm their dead. Most corpses decayed normally, leaving bare bones as the only proof of lives extinguished. In a very few instances, though, nature and human reverence worked together to preserve the deceased as a mummy. This was the fate of the tattooed woman whose elaborately wrapped remains were discovered last year at a ceremonial site called El Brujo—the Wizard—on the north coast of Peru. Rising to power a thousand years before the Inca, her people created a sophisticated culture now known for its fine ceramics and masterful metalwork.

A recent autopsy revealed that the tattooed woman had borne at least one child and died in her late 20s, but no trace of what killed her was evident. Her untimely demise must have shocked her people, who laid her to rest in full regalia at the peak of a temple where bloody sacrifices were performed (National Geographic, July 2004). Her body was daubed with cinnabar—a red mineral associated with the life force of blood—wrapped in layers of cotton cloth, and entombed in thick courses of adobe. Then the dry climate of the Moche's desert realm desiccated her body.

No other Moche woman like her has ever been found. Based on our preliminary study, we think she was a ruler, says archaeologist Régulo Franco, whose work is supported by Peru's National Institute of Culture and the Augusto N. Wiese Foundation. If so, she may revolutionize ideas about the Moche, whose leaders were believed—until now—to be men.

Moment 600 years ago that terror came to Mummies of the Amazon

Hands over her eyes and her face gripped with terror, the woman's fear of death is all too obvious. The remarkable mummy was found in a hidden burial vault in the Amazon.

It is at least 600 years old and has survived thanks to the embalming skills of her tribe, the Chachapoyas or cloud warriors.

Two of the 12 mummies, including a baby (below) found in Peruvian rainforest

Eleven further mummies were recovered from the massive cave complex 82ft down.

The vault - which was also used for worship - was chanced upon three months ago by a farmer working at the edge of northern Peru's rainforest. He tipped off scientists who uncovered ceramics, textiles and wall paintings.

The Chachapoyas were a tall, fair-haired, light-skinned race that some researchers believe may have come from Europe.

Little is known about them except that they were one of the more advanced ancient civilisa-tions in the area. Adept at fighting, they commanded a large kingdom from the year 800 to 1500 that stretched across the Andes.

It is not known what the Chachapoyas actually called themselves ? they are identified by the name given to them by their rivals and eventual conquerors, the Incas.

It comes from the Inca's Quechua language and means 'cloud people', because of the high forests in the clouds that the Chachapoyas inhabited.

Virtually all record of the tribe was lost when the Incas were themselves overrun by the Spanish conquistadors who landed in 1512.

They have, however, left behind a spectacular citadel, called Kuelap, 10,000ft up in the Andes.

It has more than 400 buildings and defensive towers, many of them with decorated walls, cornices and friezes.

Some experts rate Kuelap more highly than the Incan ruins at Machu Picchu.

Herman Crobera, the leader of the archaeological team that explored the cave, said: 'This is a discovery of transcendental importance.

'It is the first time any kind of underground burial site this size has been found belonging to Chachapoyas or other cultures in the region.'

He said walls near the mummies in the limestone cave were covered with paintings of faces and warrior-like figures which may have been drawn to ward off intruders and evil spirits.

'The remote site for this cemetery tells us that the Chachapoyas had enormous respect for their ancestors because they hid them away for protection,' added Mr Crobera.

'Locals call the cave Iyacyecuj, or enchanted water, because of its spiritual importance and its underground rivers.' The archaeologists have not yet established an accurate age for their finds.

Once they have finished exploring and excavating the tomb, Peruvian authorities want to turn it into a museum. The mummies are going on show at the Museum of the Nation in the capital Lima.