|

|

|
Mummies of the World
Mummies of the World |
The High Mummies
|
Preserving a Mummy
|
Sarita's Land
What is a mummy?
A mummy, to put it bluntly, is an old dead body. But unlike a
skeleton or a fossil, a mummy still retains some of the soft
tissue it had when it was alive—most often skin, but
sometimes organs and muscles, as well. This tissue
preservation can happen by accident or through human
intervention but, in either case, it occurs when bacteria and
fungi are unable to grow on a corpse and cause its decay.
Historically, quick drying has been the most common method of
mummification, since bacteria and fungi cannot grow where
there is no water. Mummies can be dried in the sun, with fire
or smoke, or with chemicals. Since most bacteria and fungi
cannot live in sub-freezing temperatures, permanent freezing
can also produce a mummy. Placing a body in an oxygen-free
environment, such as a peat bog, will cause mummification too,
because the microorganisms cannot live without air. Another
way to create a mummy is to bury it in soil containing
chemicals that kill bacteria and fungi.
Some of the world's best known mummies were created
accidentally, when a body's final resting place happened to
prevent the natural process of decay. But many cultures around
the world have sought to mummify their dead on purpose. The
process of artificially preserving a dead body is called
"embalming," and the methods used are as varied as the
cultures themselves.
Egyptians: the masters of mummification
Ancient Egyptians are perhaps the best known
mummy-makers—though initially, it was their climate, not
their skill, that preserved the dead. Arid desert winds and
blazing hot sand occasionally dried corpses out quickly enough
to mummify them. In fact, the oldest-known Egyptian mummy,
dated around 3500 B.C., is believed to have been created in
this way.
The first "artificial" Egyptian mummies were made around 3000
B.C. These early efforts at embalming were crude, but
reflected the culture's emerging beliefs about preserving the
dead to achieve eternal life.
Initially, mummification was so expensive that it was a
privilege enjoyed only by the Pharaoh and a few favourites.
Everybody else was given a simple grave burial in one of the
vast cemeteries or "necropolises" of the time. But the promise
of eternal life was so alluring that it wasn't long before
wealthy Egyptians began signing up for mummification, too. By
1550 B.C., every Egyptian who could afford it was
mummified.
Embalming became an art—practiced in booths set up along
the banks of the Nile river. A top-notch embalming job took
seventy days. The first forty of these were spent drying out
the corpse. The process began with the removal of the lungs,
stomach, liver and intestines through an abdominal incision on
the left side of the body. The brain was removed through the
nose with an implement called a brain hook, which looked
something like a crochet needle. The heart, believed to be the
source of thought, was left inside the body.
After the organs were removed, the body was rinsed with wine,
which helped to kill any remaining bacteria. It was then
covered and packed with a form of natural salt, called natron,
and left to dry on the embalming table. Forty days later, it
would be blackened and shriveled, but ready for
restoration.
The ancient Egyptians believed that a person's Ka (vital
force) and Ba (personality) left the body at the time of
death. But they also believed that Ka and Ba could be lured
back if an idealized recreation of the body were offered. This
reunification of body and spirit was the ticket to the nether
world.
To make sure the spirit could find the body (which by now
looked like a withered prune) a restorative beautification
process was necessary. The skin of the corpse was massaged to
make it supple, the body was stuffed and perfumed, and padding
was slipped under the skin to approximate plump flesh.
Finally, rouge and other paints were applied. The last step
was to coat the mummy in warm resin and wrap it from head to
foot in layer after layer of linen strips. About 150
yards—the length of one and a half football
fields—were used.
Egyptians stopped making mummies between the fourth and
seventh century A.D., when many Egyptians became Christians.
But it's estimated that, over a 3000-year period, more than 70
million mummies were made in Egypt.
Continue
Expedition '96 |
Dispatches |
Mummies |
Lost Worlds |
Mail
Resources |
Site Map |
Ice Mummies of the Inca Home
|
BBC Horizon
Editor's Picks
|
Previous Sites
|
Join Us/E-mail
|
TV/Web Schedule
About NOVA |
Teachers |
Site Map |
Shop |
Jobs |
Search |
To print
PBS Online |
NOVA Online |
WGBH
©
| Updated November 2000
|
|
|