History Of Ancient Egyptian Mummy

Egyptians first attempt of artificial mummification was during the Archaic Period (3050-2663 BC). Early mummification techniques began in the Old Kingdom (2663- 2195). By the Middle Kingdom embalmers started placing masks over corpses, the most famous was the mask of King Tutankhamun. Not only did King Tutankhamun have the most famous mask, but also he had the most famous tomb. His coffin was found in 1923 in Thebes, Egypt.

Interestingly, X-rays reveal that the mummy case of Paankhenamun does in fact contain a mummy inside dating back to the years of c. 945 – 715 B.C. The practice of mummification was the Egyptian people’s way of preserving the spirits of the Gods/Goddesses and royalty. The idea was that when these beings came back to life, they would be preserved and well prepared for their next lives. By the time of the New Kingdom, the Egyptians already had developed techniques of mummification, which were done under a priest’s supervision (Stokstad 114), and since Paankhenamun was the priest of Amun, he was most likely was in charge of these procedures. In the ancient Egyptian culture, the belief was that there was a life force and spirit inside of the body, known as the ‘Ka’.

When you think of a mummy what comes to mind? Most of us usually picture an Egyptian mummy wrapped in bandages and buried deep inside a pyramid. While the Egyptian ones are the most famous, mummies have been found in many places throughout the world, from Greenland to China to the Andes Mountains of South America. A mummy is the body of a person (or an animal) that has been preserved after death. Normally when we die, bacteria and other germs eat away at the soft tissues (such as skin and muscles) leaving only the bones behind.

Nearby burial sites were long been looted by grave robbers or damaged by floodwaters. Somehow, the tomb remained undisturbed for 3,000 years. This undisturbed condition is significant because the world only knew of what contents should be in a Pharaoh's tomb from ancient writings. The world has never before seen the actual contents of a Pharaoh's tomb intact. Additionally, right at the time of the tomb discovery and before breaching the sealed door, an elderly British romantic novelist Marie Corelli, who specializes on the supernatural wrote of an ominous warning, a "Mummy's Curse", that anyone who intrudes into a sealed tomb will suffer or die (Marchant, 2013).

Each head is believed to be the protector of each organ within the jar and is dedicated to a specific deity. The preservation of the organs is significant as they allowed the dead person to breathe and eat in the afterlife. The internal organs were then wrapped and put into either the body or put in boxes instead of sitting in jars. Canoptic jars were still placed in the tomb but they were solid or empty and provided a symbolic purpose. In Tutankhamun’s tomb the canoptic jars were discovered in a shrine that was found in the treasury room of the tomb.

A natural mummy is a person or animal that has had its moisture sucked out of its skin and organs when done by nature. When done by man the organs would be taken out and put into decorated jars. Then the body would be rubbed down with blake salt then the body would be wrapped in miles of white cloth with thousands of charms i’m not exaggerating.The Ancient Egyptians did this to preserve the body for the afterlife. The physical word “mummy” comes from a mixture of different words the Latin word mumia, the Arabic word mumiya and last but not least a Persian word mum which means wax.The definition for mummy is “a medical preparation of the substance of the b... ... middle of paper ... ...grow because without them we wouldn't know as much as we do now. Works Cited An Overview of Mummification in Ancient Egypt.

The earliest ancient Egyptians buried their dead in small pits in the desert. However, over many centuries, the ancient Egyptians developed a new method of preserving these bodies so they would remain lifelike. The process includes embalming the bodies and wrapping them in strips of linen. This process is now called mummification. Throughout this technique, the body is covered and filled with different substances that help preserve the body and body parts from decomposing.

The two ... ... middle of paper ... ...increased their science knowledge and increased their technology capacity. Mummification relates to Egypt, because before the Old Kingdom, the Egyptians used mummification, but instead of using chemicals such as Natron, they preserved their dead by desiccation. Before the Egyptians would then bury their dead in the arid desert with the deceased’s belongings. However, the wealthier Egyptians began to bury their dead in tombs, and used artificial mummification, which is removing the internal organs and wrapping the body in linen and burying them in coffins. But by the New Kingdom, the Egyptians perfected their mummification process, and had elaborate funerals for the deceased.

The largest protector the world has ever seen is the Great Sphinx statue from the Giza funerary complex. The Giza funerary complex is a mix of assorted Pharao... ... middle of paper ... ...encken 126-7). By using the tumulus or mounded tomb method the Etruscan people could hide these elaborate tombs in plain sight. Scholars of today appreciate that protective insight as they explore the treasure trove of information and artifacts preserved in the Etruscan tombs. The Egyptian and Etruscan peoples were very different in many ways, but what they had in common was a respect for the afterlife.

The first pyramid, the Step Pyramid at Şaqqārah, was constructed during the reign of King Djoser (2630 BC-2611 BC). Egyptian pyramids are the mysteries of the Eygpt for everyone has an idea what they were used for but no one can be really sure if it is true. The Pyramids mostly served as tombs for kings and queens, but they were also places of ongoing religious activity. After a ruler died, his or her body was carefully treated and wrapped to preserve it as a mummy. According to ancient Egyptian belief, the pyramid, where the mummy was placed, provided a place for the monarch to pass into the afterlife.