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Mummies of the World
Part 3
(back to Part 2)
Other embalming methods
Embalming methods usually reflect the tools and materials
available. For example, the Aleut people, who lived on the
Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska, mummified their dead
by removing the organs and stuffing the cavity with dry grass.
Next they laid the body in a stream, where the running water
dissolved the fat and washed it away, leaving only muscle and
skin. The body was then tied in a squatting position and dried
in the open air. Once it was dry, the mummy was wrapped in
several layers of waterproof leather and woven clothing and
placed in a warm cave, either hanging from the ceiling or
lying on a platform to keep it off the damp floor. In one
Aleutian cave, archaeologists found more than 50 mummies
dating back 250 years.
In Papua New Guinea, embalmers smoke-cured the dead, covered
them in a protective layer of clay and propped them up on
scaffolding that overlooked their villages.
It's not known exactly how the Anasazi, who lived in the "four
corners" region of the American Southwest, mummified their
dead. But mummies dating as far back as 100 A.D have been
found wrapped in fur and leather blankets in caves and rock
holes—often wearing a new pair of sandals, presumably
for use in the next life.
Accidental mummies
Some of the most spectacular mummies were created
accidentally. In 1991, German climbers found a body frozen on
top of a glacier near the Austrian-Italian border. Initially,
the police and forensic experts who arrived on the scene
didn't realize how old the body was—even though he was
wearing a grass cape, carrying a bow and arrows and had shoes
stuffed with grass for warmth. Later, radiocarbon dating
determined that the "Iceman" died sometime between 3350 and
3300 B.C.—making him the oldest well-preserved mummy in
the world.
In 1972, hunters found some of the best ever
naturally-preserved human bodies at a remarkable abandoned
settlement called Qilakitsoq, in Greenland. The "Greenland
Mummies," who died about 500 years ago, consisted of a
six-month old baby, a four year old boy, and six women of
various ages. Protected by a rock that overhung a shallow
cave, the bodies were naturally mummified by the sub-zero
temperatures and dry, dehydrating winds. Accompanying the
eight bodies were seventy-eight items of clothing, most made
out of seal skin.
Over the years, peat cutters working the bogs of northwest
Europe have uncovered hundreds of mummies. The spongy top
layer of a peat bog tends to seal off oxygen from the layers
below. A bog's naturally acidic environment also helps to
create mummies and gives them a distinctively brown, leathery
and life-like appearance. The oldest "bog mummies" are from
the Iron Age (between 400 B.C. and 400 A.D.) and were Celtic
or Germanic contemporaries of the Romans. Strangely, many of
the mummies found in the European bogs show evidence of
violent deaths. With slit throats and broken skulls, these
individuals may have been victims of ritual sacrifice, not
unlike the mummies of the high Andes.
Mummies of the World
|
The High Mummies
|
Preserving a Mummy
|
Sarita's Land
Photos: (1) courtesy Harold McCracken; (2) Courtesy
University of Insbruck; (3) Courtesy Silkeborg Museum.
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