Mummification

Canopic jars held the liver, lungs, stomach and intestines of the dead person

Eye of Horus

 

Egyptian mummy from Encarta Online
Encyclopedia

 

A mummy going into a CAT scan at the Museum of
Science, Boston, MA, USA

 

Ramses II mummified remains

Ancient Egyptians learned to make mummies because they believed they would need their bodies in the Next Life. They thought their Ka or soul would wander around lost after they died unless the body was saved so the Ka had a place to live.

Almost all Egyptians who could afford to became mummies when they died — atotal of about 70 million mummies in 3,000 years. People would spend their whole lifetime saving money so they could be mummified. They thought it was the only way they could be sure they were going to have an afterlife.

Mummification had many steps and took about 70 days to finish. Because it cost a great deal to have done, mostly royalty and the upper classes were able to be made into mummies

 

Many mummies have been found and studied by scientists. They found not only people but also animals made into mummies. Cats were very special to Ancient Egyptians, and many cat mummies have been uncovered. Other animal mummies discovered include: dogs, cows, and crocodiles

Steps of Mummification

1. Announcement of death
2. Embalming the Body
3. Removal of Brain
4. Removal of Internal Organs
5. Drying Out Process
6. Wrapping of the Body
7. Final Procession

 

Step 1 – Announcing the death was done by going out into the
streets and telling people that the person was dead. Those calling out the
information might not have been called “town criers,” but they did the same
thing.

Step 2 – Embalming the body meant putting a mixture of spices and
other ingredients into the body that helped stop the body from rotting
away.

Step 3 – Removing the brain was done with a special hook and the
brain was taken out in pieces through the nose. People of the time did not
understand what the brain did and didn’t think it was important.

 

Step 4 – Removing the internal organs was done by making a cut
in the left side of the person and taking out organs. The liver, lungs,
stomach and intestines were saved and put in canopic jars or special tiny
coffins with heads of gods that were to watch over the organs.

There were always four jars, one each for the four sons of Horus
– all protective spirits – the lids on the jars were in the shape of a falcon,
baboon, human and jackal. (See picture to the right.)

One organ that was not removed was the heart. The heart stayed with the body.
They believed that one’s soul and personality lived in the heart.

Step 5
– Drying out the body was done using special kinds of salt. As much as 40 of the
70 day process was used in getting the body dried out and ready to be
wrapped.

Step 6 – Wrapping the body was done very carefully. Special oils
and lotions were used. A special gold piece with the Eye of Horus (see right)
was placed over the cut in the side where the internal organs were removed. They
thought the Eye of Horus would help protect the mummy.

Hundreds of yards of special material called linen was used to wrap the body. They covered each finger and toe separately. They put layers and layers of cloth around the body. Between layers they would put special charms, amulets and other items to bring luck and to keep the body safe.

When the wrapping was done, a last covering was put over the whole mummy to keep it together – this covering was called a shroud. Special glue called mummia was put all over the shroud. The use of mummia is where the name “mummy” came from.
Some people had false eyes put in the eye sockets and make-up put on their
faces. A special mask was made showing how the person looked so that the Ka
(soul) could find the right body. The mask was made so the person looked forever
young and without flaws. Most of the time the mask did not really look like the
person at all. Finally, the mummy was placed in a special painted coffin.

Step 7 – Final procession meant taking the body to a place of rest or burial. The coffin was carried through the
streets with people walking behind it crying for the loss of the one they loved.
An interesting fact is that often people were actually paid to cry and act as
mourners! Egyptians thought the more people mourning the loss of a loved-one,
the better chance that person had to enter the Next Life.

Many new and exciting discoveries are still being made today. Scientists are still learning
much about the people of Ancient Egypt by studying mummies. The use of a cat
scan — a process where they can see inside the body and bones — is being used
to find out how the people may have died, to tell how old they were and even
what they might have eaten for their last meal! There is a picture to the right
of scientists starting a CAT scan on a mummy at the Museum of Science in Boston,
Massachusetts, USA.

Some of the great pharaohs have been found and
studied. Because of the mummification process and because of all the new
technology we have now, it is now possible to know how pharaohs such as
Amenhotep II, Thutmose III and IV, King Tutankhamen, Seti I and Ramses II looked
during their lifetime (see Ramses II mummy at right). The study of these pharaohs and others continue to amaze and teach us more about the people of Ancient Egypt

http://www.myteacherpages.com/webpages/lislmc/ae.cfm?subpage=509388

THE MUMMIFYING RITUAL

1. Purification

Soon after death, the embalmers were called – they would then carry the
deceased away to be embalmed, this lengthy proceedure would take place in the
IBU (the ‘Tent of Purification’). During this 70 day embalming period (70 days
also the period for the journey of the Decans in the underworld), the
embalming was not only would a surgical and drying process take place, but also
a highly ritual process. The embalmers themselves would assume roles whilst
embalming the deceased :

the Chief Embalmer (the ‘Controller of the Mysteries’) was Anubis, the
jackal headed god of cemeteries and embalming,

the God’s Seal Bearer assisted the Chief Embalmer,

a Lector Priest was present in order to read spells throughout,

the Ripper-Up, PARASCHITES, made the incision for removal of the
internal organs

minor priests – WTW – carried out bandaging and other similar duties

The first step for the body on the road towards mummification was the
purification – the body was washed and cleansed using water containing natron
(natron was the drying agent, this step was not part of drying the body out,
that would come later).

2. Removal of the Organs

Once the body had been cleaned from any impurities it was taken to the
‘Place of Embalming’ – the WABET. It was here that the internal organs were
removed – this included the lungs, stomach, intestines and liver (kidneys were
often left in place, this may be because they were thought to have little
importance), these were removed through an inscision on the side of the body:

Position of the incision; this varied only slightly throughout ancient Egyptian history – up to the 18th Dynasty organs were removed through an incision on the side (position 1), during the 18th dynasty this position changed slightly to one from the hip to the pubic are (position 2).

Once the organs were removed, the remaining space within the body was
then cleansed and filled with a temporary stuffing – the organs were treated
with the same proceedure as the rest of the body, they were even individually
wrapped in linen and placed in the tomb. The placement of the internal organs
in the tomb varies – up to the 21st dynasty they were placed within canopic
jars, during the 21st dynasty the organs (still wrapped in linen) were placed
back in the body, and in the Late Period the organs were placed between the
legs of the mummy.

CT-scan of mummy from 22nd dynasty, the highlighted area shows wrapped
organs which had been placed back into the body cavity (the spinal cord is a
the base of the picture).

The brain was also removed (this practice seems to have started around
the time of the late Middle Kingdom, or early New Kingdom period onwards), a
hole was punched through the thin bone at the top of the nostrils (the Ethmoid
bone) – modern experiments made by Bob Brier, have shown that the brain needs
to be ‘whisked up’ into a sort of liquid before the body is placed face-down
allowing the brain then to pour out through the nose. Sometimes an incision at
the base of the neck would be used to removed the brain. Once the brain had
been removed, a coating of resin was then applied to the face.

The one organ that was not removed was the heart – the heart was seen as
most important to keep within the body, it was thought of as the place of
wisdom, intelligence in the body. If the deceased were ever to reach the Beyond
it was essential that the body and heart were not separated (the heart was
needed in the Weighing of the Heart ceremony), The heart was not to be cut from
the body – if this happened accidently with the removal of the other internal
organs then it was later put back.

The bath of Natron

Possibly on the 16th day after death, the body was put into a bath of
natron – modern analysis has identified this as a natural salt of Sodium
Carbonate, Sodium Bicarbonate (along with some smaller amounts of Sodium
Sulphate and Sodium Chloride). The cavities made in the body by the extraction
of the internal organs were also packed with natron – so that the drying
process caused by the natron happened both inside and outside the body. It was
originally thought that the body was laid into a water solution which held the
natron – but it is now known that the desired results are only achievable when
the natron is dry and literally heaped onto the body.

After 40 days the body would have been completely dessicated – all
moisture would have been removed, and the body safe from further decay. It was
at this point in some periods that the mummies were also covered with hot resin
as a further protection against decay (for example the mummy of Tutankhamun).
In the 3rd Intermediate period mummies had linen and other items packed under
the skin to give the deceased a more life-like appearance (the height of the
mummification proceedure dates from thie period).

Anointing and decorating the body

After the body had been fully dessicated in the bath of natron it was
then moved to the ‘House of Beauty’ (Per Nefer), it was here that perfumes and
oils were rubbed over the skin to make it soft once more. Firstly, however, any
materials that had been placed in the body before the bath of natron were taken
out and replaced (these original padding materials were not discarded but were
kept to be buried with the body), the body was then re-stuffed (this might
include linen soaked in resin, lichen, onions, mud or sawdust). Once perfums
and oils had been rubbed over the skin (the quality of these oils depended on
the wealth of the deceased), the embalming incision was covered – either with
wax, or with a metal plate. The metal plate was used for protection and was
decorated with a magical symbol:

The metal plate which covered the embalming incision of Psusennes I:

The gods are the four gods of the viscera – Imsety, Hapi, Duamutef and
Qebehsenuf, they pray to the eye ‘on behalf of the Osiris King
Psusennes-beloved-of-Amun’

The bodies were also sometimes coloured – men were painted red, women
painted yellow – henna was rubbed onto the hands and feet. In the Graeco-Roman
period gold leaf was applied to parts of the body, and female mummies had their
faces painted and their eyes highlighted.

The Wrapping of the Mummy.

At least fifteen days were needed to fully wrap the body, this slow
process was often interrupted by the need for prayer and ritual. The linen used
for the bandages may have come from many different sources – the linen may have
been specially made painted with magical inscriptions to protect the mummy, or
for the poorer burials ordinary household linen would have been used. The linen
used as bandages were torn into strips approximately 2 to 8 inches in width.
The limbs of the body would each be wrapped separately at first (the head and
neck, toes and fingers, arms and legs followed by the torso). During this
wrapping many amulets would be placed within the wrappings – again to protect
the mummy in the Beyond:

Location of amulets placed on the body (Late Period)

Left side – glazed amulets placed in the outer layer of wrappings

Right side – Stone amulets placed in the inner layer

Once the individual parts of the body had been wrapped, the body was then completely wrapped from head to toe using layers and layers of linen – the positioning of the arms during this final wrapping varied over the centuries (sometimes the arms were crossed – as in the above picture – or extended down to the groin – or straight down by the sides of the body). The final moment of wrapping was the use of a single large sheet of linen which covered the whole mummy which was then secured by linen bands (in the New Kingdom the linen sheet was dyed red, in the 21st Dynasty red leather straps crossed over the shoulders, in the Late Period the body was covered by a net of blue faience beads).

Use of a Mask The use of masks with the burial dates originally to the Middle   Kingdom, during some periods throughout the rest of ancient Egyptian history a mask made from cartonnage was placed over the head and shoulders of the mummy. The mask was painted – in royal burials the mask was made from gold and precious stones. During Late Graeco-Roman periods the mask consisted of a face mask which was placed over intricate criss-crossing bandaging – these masks would show the dead person as if resting on a pillow. During the Roman Period, the living would have a portrait made of themselves during life – this same portrait was then placed over the head of the mummy. Once the mask was in place further amounts of resin were poured over the mummy as well as perfumes and unguents – finally the mummy would be placed in the coffin just before burial. With the advent of Christainity into Egypt, the practice of mummification gradually dissappeared – although burials have been found dating to the fourth Century AD which show a limited form of the mummification technique. http://ib205.tripod.com/mummification.html

Mummification Steps

Among the various facets of the fascinating history of ancient Egypt, making of mummies is by far the most intricate one. Going through these mummification steps will give you a rough idea about the process of mummification.

Initially, early Egyptians used to bury their dead in small pits, wherein the bodies would get dehydrated and natural mummies were formed. With time, the rituals changed, and they started to cremate the dead in crude tombs. However, problems would arise when these bodies were mutilated by wild animals in the desert. As a solution for this, it was decided to put the bodies in coffins. Problems didn’t end here though, soon enough, the Egyptians realized that the dead bodies in the coffins would decay very soon. The problem of decaying bodies was not taken lightly, as the belief in afterlife was quite prominent among the people of ancient Egypt. Eventually, they came up with preservation of bodies to tackle the problem of decaying, and thus came into existence the process of mummification. Mummification steps kept changing in course of time, as new rituals and methods to preserve bodies were introduced.Mummification in Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egyptians were staunch believers of life after death, and hence preserving the bodies of the dead was an important aspect of their society. The basic steps in the process of mummification in ancient Egypt were basically categorized into two parts – embalming and wrapping the dead. Given below is the ancient Egyptian mummification process step by step.

Ancient Egyptian Mummification: Steps of Embalming the Body
Embalming was the process of preserving the body of the dead. This was done with the help of advanced knowledge of science. Ancient Egyptians were well-versed with the human anatomy, and this knowledge played a crucial role in preservation of the bodies.

• The process of embalming began in a tent referred to as the ‘ibu‘ or the ‘place of purification’, where the dead body was washed with palm wine, and rinsed with the water from river Nile.
• A small cut was made on the left side of the body, and some internal organs, like the liver, lungs, stomach and intestines were removed. This was done as these organs were believed to be the first to decompose.
• Next the brain was removed using a long hook, one of the most important mummification tools, which was inserted into the body through the nose.
• Next came the drying stage, wherein the body was stuffed and covered with natron, and allowed to dry for a period of 40 days.
• After 40 days of drying, the body was again washed with the water from river Nile, and smeared with sweet smelling oils, so that the body could retain its elasticity.
• As the last step towards embalming, the body was filled with dry matter, such as sawdust and linen. Finally, it was again smeared with sweet smelling oils, and thus the body was ready to be wrapped in linen.

Each of these internal organs was put into a separate canopic jar. These canopic jars were put in a canopic chest and buried in tombs, as the Egyptians believed that the dead would need these organs in their afterlife. Read more on mummification facts.

Ancient Egyptian Mummification: Steps of Wrapping the Body
After embalming, the body was wrapped in linen and placed in the coffins. They followed a particular technique of wrapping, the steps of which are given below.

• Next came the process of wrapping the body, wherein various parts of the body were wrapped with linen. The wrapping started with head, followed by other parts, in order of neck, fingers, toes, arms and legs.
• While wrapping the body, the secret amulets, i.e. the Isis knot and the Plummet, were placed between the layers of wraps. This was done as the Egyptians believed that these amulets would protect the dead during his journey to the underworld.
• While the body was wrapped, a priest recited the spells from the ‘Book of the Dead’. This was done to ward off the evil spirits, that could possibly hinder the persons journey to the underworld.
• The arms and legs were tied together, a scroll with the spells from the ‘Book of the Dead’ was placed between the hands of the dead, and the entire body was wrapped from head to the toe.
• While wrapping, the entire body was smeared with a resin, which would act like a glue, to hold the linen strips together. A cloth with the picture of Osiris – the Egyptian God of the Underworld, was wrapped around the body.
• After this, another large cloth was wrapped around the body, and linen strips were wrapped around the cloth to keep it in place. After execution of all these mummification steps, finally the mummy was ready.

Next, the mummy was placed in the first coffin, and then the first coffin was place into the second one. This was followed by various ceremonies, including the actual funeral and the opening of the mouth ceremony, which was believed to help the dead to breathe and speak. The mummy was then placed within the sarcophagus – a stone coffin with carvings on it, and kept in the tomb, which was its final resting place

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/mummification-steps.html

The Discovery of the Valley of the Mummies

Three years ago, an antiquities guard was riding his donkey. The leg of the donkey fell down and a hole was discovered because of this event. The Inspectors of Antiquities of Bahria started an excavation in this area and found the beginning of a cemetery of mummies.

In March 1999, I took a team of archaeologists, architects, restorators, conservators and engineers and started the largest expedition ever done in Egypt.

We established a large camp in the area which is located about 6 km from the town of El Bawiti, the capital of Bahria Oasis. We conducted a survey and found out that the cemetery extended about 6 km square.

We started the excavation in four tombs only and found 105 mummies inside of them. The mummies are in good condition which shows the richness of the people in that time.

They are of four kinds:

• Mummies which are guilded, covered with a very thin layer of gold;
• Mummies covered with cartonage and scenes depicted, such as gods and goddesses. For example, Anubis of the embalment, Osiris, Isis, and the four children of Horus as well as the god Toth. All these gods are connected with the judgement;
• The third type are mummies inside anthropoid coffins (these are coffins made of pottery with human faces);
• The last style are mummies wrapped with linen.

Lots of artifacts were found near the mummies, such as statues of mourning ladies made of pottery. Other artifacts, such as different types of pottery in the shapes of God Bes, the dwarf god of pleasure and fun.

Also, other artifacts including bracelets, earrings and coins were found. The study of these coins reveal that this find is dated from the Greek Period to the Roman Period.

The Tombs consist of an entrance, delivery room and two burial chambers. One of the mummies is a guilded lady with her head turned toward the face of her husband with love and affection. Others are buried as a family group, with their children. The mummies of the children were covered with gold. Another woman has a crown with four decorative rows of red-colored curls. The third and fourth rows are missing significant pieces. Beneath the crown the hairstyle is similar to that of Terracotta statues. Behind the ears appears the goddess Isis on one side and Nephthys on the other – these protect the deceased with their wings.

The decorative scenes show an abbreviated form of the judgement of the dead. In these scenes we see the god Osiris on his throne while Anubis weighs the heart of the dead against the feather of Maat. Meanwhile, Toth records the result of the weighing process and reports it to Osiris.

Anubis, who is portrayed on the mummies, played an important role in several ways. First is his well attested role in the judgement scenes – it is he who operates the scale on which the heart is weighed against the feather. Second is his performance of the embalming – a basic condition for rebirth. Anubis protects the body of the deceased and assists in its revival. Therefore, we find Anubis in the representations on coffins and mummy masks performing mummification rites.

The Uraeus appears on the head of some of the mummies belonging to non-royal persons, this probably indicates desire of the deceased to have a transfiguration similar to that of a king.

In the Roman Period, different elements appear – such as crowns and the use of a kings or gods beard of Uraeus, were taken from the royal cult and used by the public.

We expect to find at least 10,000 mummies in this cemetery. We preserved mostly all the mummies in situ, but we did move only a few to a room in the Bahria inspectorate to show them to the public.

A Festival of Mummies was discovered recently by an Egyptian team at Bahariya Oasis, located about 380 km west of the pyramids. Four tombs were excavated, and found inside them were 105 mummies, many of them beautifully gilded. These mummies, many sumptuously decorated with religious scenes, represent the very best of Roman-Period mummies ever found in Egypt. These ancient remains are around 2000 years old, but they have withstood the test of time remarkably well.

The story of the discovery began about three years ago, as I was excavating in the site of the tombs of the pyramid builders. I was cleaning

the skeleton of a workman who once was working in constructing the great pyramid

My assistant Mansour Bouriak told me that there was a very important discovery at Bahariya. I stopped cleaning the skeleton. I said Mansour: is this one of your latest jokes? Mansour said: Ashry Shaker Chief Inspector of Bahariya is here and wants to tell you about the discovery.
Ashry said, “We have found beautiful mummies. You have to leave these skeletons because lots of mummies have been found.” He added, “Yesterday the Antiquities guard Aiad was riding his donkey along the side of the road that leads to Farafra Oasis, some six Kilometers south of the town of El-Bawitty, the Capital of Bahariya. The donkey tripped, hitting its leg on the edge of tomb.” I told Ashry to start excavate this tomb, and I would visit the site the following week.

When I went in May 1996 to see them, I could not believe that such beautiful mummies could exist. Their eyes were looking at me as if they were real people.

Another mummy discovered reminded me of the mummy used by Hollywood in the movie Curse of the Mummy. The tombs with the mummies were a stunning cache. In 1996, the Bahariya Inspectorate of Antiquities did not have sufficient funding nor enough qualified
excavators and conservators to properly preserve the mummies. Therefore, we kept this discovery secret; we did not announce it because we were afraid that thieves could smell the taste of resin that was put inside the mummies.

I felt that this site should be excavated to preserve the mummies and also to know the size of the cemetery.

I led a team of archaeologist, architects, restorers, conservators, draftsmen, an electrician, and an artist. We camped in the desert and stayed in a very nice motel near the site. It was a nice change to leave the pyramids and excavate mummies.

Mummies conjure up so many images in people’s mind. Most people know about mummies through scary movies. They inevitably evoke horror movies. But the significance of this find is that it is the first exciting thing that has brought Egyptomania to the modern world. To me this is personally very exciting, but I am not overawed by the scary reputation of mummies. To me it is a science and this remarkable find gives me the chance to find more out about people from another place and time.

The story of our discovery begins back in 1996 when an Antiquities guard of the Temple of Alexander the Great was crossing the desert on his donkey. Suddenly the leg of the donkey buckled and it fell. There was a small hole in the desert floor where the donkey had fallen. The guard left his donkey in the area and ran to Mr. Ashry Shaker to report the incident.

http://www.touregypt.net/historicalessays/golden.htm

Mummies of Ancient Egypt

The walls are filled with colorful etchings and words of wisdom. Text from the three most important books of ancient Egypt: The Book of the Dead, The Book of the Gates, and The Book of the Underworld, cover the walls as far as the eye can see. The names of the wealthy pharaohs are present on the walls of the tombs in keeping with the belief that to speak the name of the dead is to make them live again.

The burial process was elaborate and time consuming. The tomb preparation began long before death occurred. Walls were painted with religious and life scenes, furniture was brought in, prayers were recorded on the walls and various objects, and food lists were made and placed within the tomb.

Since Egyptians believed that mummification was essential to the safe passage from the living to the afterlife, people were, more than not, buried in this manner. The more elaborate burials were reserved for royalty and their families, priests, and other high-ranking officials. Even those people not able to afford the most elaborate burial valued their family members enough to give the most basic mummification.

The Process

The actual mummification process took approximately seventy days. The body of the deceased was ritually cleansed and purified to begin the journey into the afterlife. The next stop involved removing the inner organs, such as the liver, intestines, lungs, and stomach. In order to dry out the organs and prevent decay they were placed in natron, a type of salt used for drying. The organs were wrapped in linen strips and placed in canopic jars. The body cavity was then stuffed with additional natron.

It’s interesting to note that the embalmers never removed the heart of the deceased. It was believed that the heart was the center of a person. The Egyptians considered the heart to be a central point of being and intelligence.

After the internal body organs were dealt with, the embalmers removed the brain and surrounding tissue. It’s a rare person that doesn’t cringe at the details of how this was done. The embalmer would use a special hooked instrument. He would insert the hooked instrument through the nostrils and pull out bits of brain tissue. This was a delicate procedure and one that was done with extreme care. The potential to disfigure the face during the process of removing the brain made this part of the mummification process extremely important. However, the actual salvage of the brain was not considered, as the Egyptians considered it an unimportant part of the body.

At this point in the procedure, the deceased was placed on a table that was elevated at one end to allow moisture to drip away from the body. The body was covered in natron to remove the moisture. This allowed the body to slowly dry out and retain much of its shape. The actual drying of the body took approximately forty days.

After the body was sufficiently dried out, the natron was removed and the body was washed carefully. At this point, the body began to look like the stereotypical mummy, shrunken and dried out. Often, to make the body more life-like, pieces of linen were added to sunken places and false eyes were placed within the eye cavities.

The deceased was wrapped in linen at this point in the procedure. Each mummy required hundreds of yards of linen to be sufficiently prepared for the afterlife. Each finger and toe was wrapped individually and then the entire hand and foot. During the process of wrapping the mummy, good luck charms, words of wisdom, and prayers were placed within the layers of the wrappings. It was also common for a mask, or likeness, of the deceased to be placed upon the mummy’s face between layers of head wrappings. Throughout this process, the mummy was coated with resin and the wrapping resumed. Finally, the mummy was wrapped in a shroud or cloth.

Ceremony

When the mummy was completed and ready for burial, the ceremony and rituals began. The priests would use a special instrument to touch parts of the body to open it for the afterlife. This ritual is called the “Opening of the Mouth.” The instrument enabled the priest in opening the senses of the dead and, the ceremony allowed the dead person to eat and speak in the afterlife. The Egyptians believed that this ritual released the Ba and Ka to travel into the next world.

The Egyptians had such a love for life that it was important for them to continue that enjoyment even after death. Such elaborate burials were a part of the acceptance of death. The Egyptians were not preoccupied with death, but they did spend much time preparing for the time when their life on this earth would cease and they would enter the afterlife.

When all the rituals were complete, the mummy was sealed within the coffin, placed in the burial chamber, and the tomb was sealed.

The Afterlife

The Egyptians believed that the mummy housed the soul and spirit. Their belief was often thought of as complex and involved three spirits. The Ka, Ba, and Akh. The Ka was the essence of the person, like their double, and it remained in the tomb and made use of the offerings and objects there. The Ba was free to move about, in or out of the tomb. The Akh traveled throughout the Underworld and to the entrance of the Afterlife.

There are three inhabitants of the Afterlife: the dead, the gods, and the Akh. When the person dies the Ba and the Ka are separated from the body, but they do not die. They are released through ritual into the next world. The goal in the Underworld is to live in ones Ka, as this holds the physical resemblance to the deceased. In order to do this, the Ba and the Ka must overcome the dangers of the Underworld and reunite to form the Akh. The Akh will then have made a successful transition to the Underworld, and will live with the gods. Those who fail to make the connection are called the dead, and they have no hope of ever living a renewed life.

Valley of the Kings

Some of the most preserved mummies have been found in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. This was the burial ground for the rich, the pharaohs, and their family members. The tombs are elaborate and ornate. The walls are filled with inscriptions and paintings. The tombs were filled with rare art, jewels, and anything the deceased would need to live well in the Afterlife. These tombs gained notoriety as they began to reveal the secrets of the past.

The most famous of the Egyptian mummies is Tutankhamen. He was the boy king of the 18th Dynasty. He died of unknown causes as a teenager and was mummified and entombed in the Valley of the Kings. His tomb was discovered intact, which was rare due to the vandals and grave robbers that pillaged the Valley of the Kings for 3000 years.

Undecorated Tombs

Perhaps the most interesting, yet ignored, tombs are those that are barren of finery and wall inscriptions. The undecorated tombs within the Valley of the Kings make one wonder at the people who were entombed there.

Dr. Donald P. Ryan, of Pacific Lutheran University, is one of the foremost experts in the study of the undecorated tombs. While other expeditions and research teams passed over the undecorated tombs for the more elaborate tombs, Dr. Ryan and his research team tackled the mysterious uninscribed tombs.

Dr. Ryan spoke about his visit to Egypt to the Valley of the Kings. “During my first visit to the Valley of the Kings as a graduate student twenty years ago, I was, of course, impressed by the large decorated royal tombs of the New Kingdom. But I also noticed many little shafts and holes here and there that I likewise found intriguing. I later learned that most of these were small uninscribed tombs that had been located by earlier excavators, who seemed to be far more interested in finding the larger tombs of the pharaohs. Yet, a couple of these smaller tombs had survived virtually intact (the tombs of Yuya and Thuya and that of Maihepri), and the very location of such tombs in the Valley indicates that they belonged to people of considerable importance. I studied a series of six of these tombs and found them fascinating. In two of the tombs, we found three mummies whose pose of mummification suggests that they are royal females. There are many royal family members (especially from the 18th dynasty) whose tombs have never been identified. Perhaps some of them are to be found where many archaeologists have passed and millions of tourists have walked by, in the smaller tombs of the Valley of the Kings.”

Seeing an image of an unnamed female mummy in a small, unmarked tomb can have an effect on even the most experienced archeologist. Dr. Ryan related his own experience at seeing the unmarked tombs and the inhabitants. “I was very surprised at the fact that many of the mummies remained in these small tombs. But, it was clear from even the few that had survived relatively intact, that their bodies and burials had been brutally ransacked by ancient robbers. The Egyptians believed that the perpetuation of one’s name would cause one to live. Through their destructive processes in these tombs with blank walls, the thieves in their greed have practically denied these people their eternity. Archaeologists have a chance, at least, of rectifying the situation by examining the surviving burial debris and human remains to provide clues to the identity and history of these individuals so privileged to have been interred in the royal necropolis. Although there has been a lot of speculation, perhaps too much, about the identities of the occupants in some of the tombs I have studied, it is fair to say that unfortunately we cannot with certainty provide specific names for these individuals at this time. What I can say is that through our archaeological work and conservation measures, these tombs have been restored to some semblance of dignity and their occupants remain peacefully within. Perhaps in the future, we will have enough evidence to rescue them from anonymity.”

The tombs of ancient Egypt speak loudly to us from the past. Should we take the time to listen, we can learn, not only about the ancient lifestyles, but also about the intense respect the Egyptians held for their lives after death. During your visit to Egypt, take some time to visit the Valley of the Kings, and while you admire the elaborate tombs, give a thought to the undecorated tombs that hold the remains of those robbed of their eternity.

http://www.touregypt.net/egypt-info/magazine-mag06012001-magf3.htm

Funerary Beliefs Connected with Mummification

Mummification symbolizes the fear the ancient Egyptians had of death and answers their eager desire for immortality. “In no country of the earth is life more attractive, more desirable (than it was in ancient Egypt)….Little wonder that the Egyptians conceived a fanatical abhorrence of death, and devoted no small part of their wealth to devising means of defeating it”.

This fundamental trait of the ancient Egyptians’ psychology is quite apparent in the appeals of the dead inscribed on numerous Middle Kingdom funerary stelae, asking the passers-by to utter a prayer, behalf of the deceased, which is as follows: ” O ye who live and exist, who like life and hate death, whosoever shall pass by this tomb, as ye love life and hate death so ye offer to me what is in your hands” (Lange and Schafer 1902, P.3).

Fig 2: (Cairo Museum Guide no. 219)

The third and innermost gold coffin of Tutankhamon With an attitude such as this, the ancient Egyptians were ready to accept any explanations, no matter how contradictory, and to resort to any practices, no matter how peculiar, so long as they might be allowed to cherish their ideal tranquility (Davies and Gardiner1915.Their imagination, accordingly, led they to believe that death does not necessarily terminate life,
but that it merely means the dissociation of human life, where the spirit (incorporeal principle) abandon the body (Drioton, 1945) as can be concluded from the Pyramid Text: “The spirit is for the Heavens, (but) the corpse is for the earth.” One’s incorporeal principle was believed to include his immortal spiritual forces which are composed of the Ka, the ba, and the akh.

The ka, now generally believed to represent the ensemble of a person’s qualities or characteristics, was most probably consider a kind of protective genius which is born with the child, remains with him as his double during his life to protect him, and after death resides in the tomb and neighborhood. The ba, or animating force, corresponds in some respects to what we call the soul. It is most probably the soul which takes a place in the bark of the sun, traveling in it around the underworld until, at the moment when the eastern horizon had been cleared at daybreak, it would leave the bark to return to the tomb to visit the mummy (Drioton. in Engelbach, 1961). That is why the ba, represented as a bird with a human head, is generally figured over the mummy visiting it.

The akh is a divine or supernatural power which the person attained only after death. For the sake of convenience, we may refer to the individually or collectively as the ‘ soul” or the “spirit”.

If this analysis is correct, it follows that the soul—the ka and the ba (during day journey)—continued to live in the neighborhood of the body. ”Since, however, the matter-of-fact mind of the Egyptian could not, or did not like to, think of disembodied ghost, it was felt that the spirit still required a visible and tangible form in which to dwell.

This form was preferably the body itself (Hayes 1953). The soul depended on the body and was fed by what the living brought and offered it. This idea inspired most of the practices of the cult of the dead in Egypt since the earliest times. It is the basis for the care which was taken to protect the corpse the deceased from disintegration brought on by natural decay. Hence, the ancient Egyptians developed the process of mummification to keep the body in a good state and to preserve its physical features so that the soul might identify it, for the destruction of the body would have meant also the decay of the soul. To protect the mummy it was encased in a series of coffins enclosed in a huge stone sarcophagus and buried in a tomb surrounded by its furniture and provisions.

Thus, in the case of Tutankhamon. the mummy was encased in a gold coffin (fig. 2) which was enclosed in two other coffins and a huge quartzite sarcophagus which was in turn enclosed in four gilt shrines placed one within the other.

The first, outermost coffin of Tutankhamon, of heavy wood overlaid with gold upon gesso, kept in the quartzite sarcophagus in the tomb of Tutankhamon, valley of the Kings, Thebes.

The tomb was furnished with a cult chapel, in which the soul, having access to the “false door” (fig. 5), could enjoy the fresh offerings brought to it.

Fig 5 (Cairo Museum, Saqqara, no. 13947) False door

The care of the Egyptians for satisfying the needs of the soul inspired them also to create small pleasure gardens in the vicinity of the tombs of the New Kingdom (Drioton, in Engelbach 1961). In honor of the divine father Neferhotep, the harpist sang ”the walls of the tomb are strongly built, thou hast planted trees round thy pool. Thy ba-soul rests beneath them and
drinks of their water”.

Development and History

In the predynastic period (5000-3200 B.C.), the dead body was simply loosely wrapped in linen, animal skin, or matting, and was buried in a more or less tightly contracted position in a shallow grave in sand (Reisner 1908). Although most of the bodies found in these decomposed completely, leaving only the skeletons, some of them, such as those discovered near Gebelein and in Nubia were found rather well preserved (Reisner 1910).

http://www.touregypt.net/historicalessays/mummyessay.htm

An Overview of Mummification in Ancient Egypt

Mummies is a term that today is used to describe natural or artificially preserved bodies, though traditionally the word was used specifically to describe the bodies of ancient Egyptians where dehydration of the tissues was used to prevent putrefaction. The word is derived from the Persian or Arabic word mumia (or mumiya), which means “pitch” or “bitumen”. It originally referred to a black, asphalt-like substance, thought to have medicinal properties and eagerly sought as a cure for many ailments, that oozed from the “Mummy Mountain” in Persia. There was such a demand for this substance that an alternative source was eventually sought and, because the ancient Egyptian mummies often have a blackened appearance, they were believed to possess similar properties to munia. Hence, during the medieval and later times, they were used as medicinal ingredient. The term mumia, or “mummy” was therefore extended to these bodies and has continued in use up until our present day. Mummification of bodies was originally a natural process in Egypt and elsewhere, where the dryness of the sand in which the body was buried, the heat or coldness of the climate, or the absence of air in the burial helped to produce unintentional or “natural” mummies. These processes have produced mummies not only in Egypt, but in South America, Mexico, the Alps, Central Asia, the Canary Islands, the Aleutian Islands and Alaska. Another type of natural mummification also occurred in northwestern Europe where bodies have been preserved when buried in peat bogs or fens containing lime. In some of these areas, the natural process was early on intentionally developed by enhancing the environmental conditions. Sun, fire or other sources of heat were sometimes used to dehydrate the bodies, while at other times, the bodies were cured using smoke. Also, natural material such as grass could be used to surround the body, fill its cavities or seal the burial place so that, by the exclusion of air, decomposition and further deterioration was prevented. Our Sources and Research on Mummification What we know about Egyptian mummification comes from a number of sources, including the archaeological evidence provided by the mummies themselves, paleopathological studies of the bodies, painted and carved representations in tomb scenes and elsewhere that depict some stages of the mummification process, and textual references in Egyptian and other classical era accounts. However, there exists no known Egyptian description of the technical processes involved in mummification. No paintings or carvings provide an extant, complete record of mummification, though some wall scenes in the tombs of Thoy and Amenemope (tombs 23 and 41 on the West Bank at Thebes, respectively) and vignettes painted on some coffins and canopic jars show some stages in the mummification process. However, the earliest known accounts of mummification that are relatively complete occur in the writings of two specific Greek historians (Herodotus from the fifth century BC and Diodorus Siculus from the first century BC). Nevertheless, within Egyptian literature, there is scattered references to mummification and the associated religious rituals. In one text, called the “Ritual of Embalming”, is provided a set of instructions to the officials who perform the rites that accompany the mummification process, as well as a collection of prayers and incantations to be invoked after each rite. This ritual is specifically set out in two papyri, probably copied from the same source and both dated to the Roman period. They are the Papyrus Boulaq 3, now in the Cairo Museum, and Papyrus 5158 in the Louvre. There are also references to the embalming ceremonies in the Rhind Papyri and in other literary sources, including inscriptions on stelae. However, it is Herodotus’s account that remains the most complete regarding the mummification process. In addition to classical texts and references, a surprising amount of modern scientific research has been conducted in regards to mummies. Sometimes,. these have even included multidisciplinary studies of mummified remains which have supplied new information about the process of mummification itself, as well as disease, diet, living and working conditions and even family relationships. For example, the use of scanning electron microscopes has been used to identify insects that attack mummies, histology and electron microscopy have supplied evidence about the success or failure of individual mummification techniques, and thin layer and gas liquid chromatography have isolated and characterized the substances that were applied to the mummy bandages. There have also been several techniques that have informed us of the diseases in mummies. As early as the 1970s, radiography, which is a nondestructive method, became a major investigative procedure and later the additional use of computerized tomography (CT) became standard in most radiological investigations of mummies. There are also dental studies of mummies that have provided evidence about age, diet, oral health and disease. Paleo-histology, which involves the re-hydration, fixing and selective staining of sections of mummified tissue, together with paleo-pathology, which is the study of disease in ancient people, have developed considerably since the techniques were originally pioneered in Cairo earlier in the twentieth century by M. A. Ruffer. Today, endoscopy has almost completely replaced the need to autopsy a mummy, since this technique allows the researcher to gain firsthand evidence about embalming methods and to obtain tissue samples for further study without destroying the mummy. Histology, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), immunohistochemistry and immunocytochemistry can then be used to search for evidence of disease in the tissue samples. Today, we also use DNA, rather than the older studies of blood groups, to help identify individual family relationships and future studies of this type may even help identify the origins and migrations of ancient populations. DNA analysis may also help identify bacterial, fungal, viral and parasitic disease. In the future, current studies on the process of deterioration may also help curators and conservators in preserving their mummy collections. Egyptian Mummification In Egypt, a combination of climate and environment, as well as the people’s religious beliefs and practices, led first to unintentional natural mummification and then to true mummification. In Egypt, and particularly ancient Egypt, there was a lack of cultivatable land and so the early Egyptians chose to bury their dead in shallow pit-graves on the edges of the desert, where the heat of the sun and the dryness of the sand created the natural mummification process. Even this natural process produced remarkably well preserved bodies. Often, these early natural mummified bodies retained skin tissue and hair, along with a likeness of the person’s appearance when alive. Prior to about 3400 BC, all Egyptians were buried in pit graves, whether rich or poor, royal or common. Later however, as prosperity and the advance in building techniques improved, more elaborate tombs for those of high social status were constructed. Yet at the same time, these brick lined underground burial chambers no longer provided the conditions which led to natural mummification in the older pit graves. Now however, mummification had been established in the religious belief system so that the deceased’s ka, or spirit, could return to and recognize the body, reenter it, and thus gain spiritual sustenance from the food offerings. Hence, a method was sought to artificially preserve the bodies of the highest classes. However, preservation of the body was probably also required due to the longer period that it took to actually inter the body, as grave goods and even the tomb itself received final preparations. What we sometimes called true mummification involves a sophisticated process that was developed from experimentation. The best example of this process is Egyptian mummification, which involved the use of chemical and other agents. The experimentation that led to true mummification probably lasted several hundred years. Such efforts may have begun as early as the 2nd Dynasty. J. E. Quibell, an Egyptologist who worked in some primitive Egyptian necropolises, found a large mass of corroded linen between the bandages and bones of a body interred in a cemetery at Saqqara that perhaps evidences an attempt to use natron or another agent as a preservative by applying it to the surface of the skin. Another early technique involved the covering of the body in fine linen and then coating this with plaster to carefully preserve the deceased’s body shape and features, in particular the head. In 1891, W. M. Flinders Petrie discovered a body at Meidum dating to the 5th Dynasty in which there had been some attempt to preserve the body tissue as well as to recreate the body form. Bandages were carefully molded to reproduce the shape of the torso. Arms and legs were separately wrapped and the breasts and genitals were modeled in resin-soaked linen. Nevertheless, decomposition had taken the body beneath the bandages, and only the skeleton remained. Only as early as the 4th Dynasty do we actually find convincing evidence of successful, true mummification. The mother of Khufu, the king who built the Great Pyramid at Giza, also had a tomb at Giza. Though her body has not been found, in her tomb was discovered preserved viscera which could probably be attributed to this queen. An analysis of these viscera packets proved that they had been treated with natron, the agent that was successfully used in later times to dehydrate the body tissue. Hence, this find demonstrates that the two most important components of mummification, evisceration of the body and dehydration of the tissues, was already in use by royalty. Afterwards, mummification continued to be practiced in Egypt for some three thousand years, lasting until the end of the Christian era. As Egyptian history progressed, mummification became available to people of the upper and even the middle classes. During the Middle Kingdom, the political and economic growth of the middle classes and the increased importance of religious beliefs and practices among all Egyptian social classes resulted in the spread of mummification to new sections of the population. More mummies have survived from that period than from the Old Kingdom, but it is also evident that less care was taken in their preparations. Mummification was actually most widespread during the Greco–Roman period. It was then that foreign immigrants who settled in Egypt began to adopt Egyptian funerary beliefs and customs. Mummification at that time became an increasingly prosperous commercial venture, and it tended to indicate the decease’s social status rather than any religious conviction. This resulted in a further decline in the quality of the mummification process. At that time, bodies were elaborately bandaged and encased in covers made of cartonnage (a mixture of plaster and papyrus or linen). However, modern radio-graphic analysis confirms that these bodies were frequently poorly preserved inside their wrappings. Mummification was never generally available to the common classes of people. Yet, since they could not afford the sophisticated funerary structures, they continued to be interred in simple desert graves where their bodies were naturally preserved. Today, the method of mummification used to preserve a body, as well as the quality of the work, aids Egyptologists in determining the social status of the deceased. Herodotus, the Greek historian, tells us that there were three primary types of mummification available which ancient clients chose according to their ability to pay for these services. The most expensive processes included elaborate funerary rites as well as a lengthy and complicated procedure to preserve the body. This process involved a number of stages, though the two most important steps continued to be the arresting of the decomposition of the body through evisceration and dehydration. The internal organs, called viscera, were normally removed from the thoracic and abdominal cavities through an abdominal incision in the left flank. In some instances, the viscera were not extracted at all, while in others they were removed through the anus. This tissue was then dehydrated with natron, and either placed in canopic jars or made into four packages and reinserted into the body cavities. Some were wrapped in one large packet that was placed on the legs of the mummy. Interestingly, the heart was considered to be the organ associated with the individual’s intelligence and life force and was therefore retained in place, while the brain was removed and discarded. After removal of the internal organs, the body cavities were washed out with spiced palm wine and then filled with a mixture of dry natron (a type of salt) gum resin and vegetable matter. Afterwards, the corpse was left to dehydrate, apparently in a bath of natron, for a period of up to seventy days. However, experimentation has proven that forty days is sufficient for the dehydration process, and he seventy days that Herodotus spoke of may have actually represented the period of time between the individual’s death and his burial. natron, believed to be the main ingredient used to pack the body, was found in a dry desert valley called the Wadi Natrun, now famous for its monasteries. It is composed of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate and includes some natural impurities. Originally, there was some discussion in Egyptology circles concerning the use of natron, actual salt (sodium chloride), or lime (calcium carbonate) as the main dehydration agent in Egyptian mummification. There was also a question of whether the natron was used in a solution such as water, or in a solid state. However, Assessment of the Greek texts that describes the process, together with modern experiments on mummification has led us to believe that dry natron provides the most satisfactory results and was probably used exclusively. After the body was completely dehydrated, the temporary stuffing that was used to fill the body was removed from its cavities and replaced with the permanent stuffing and sometimes also with the viscera packages. Next the abdominal incision was closed, the nostrils were plugged with resin or wax, and the body was anointed with a variety of oils and gum resins, which may have also played some part in preventing or delaying insect attack and in masking the odors of decomposition that would have accompanied the mummification process. However, all of these later stages were essentially cosmetic and had little effect in preserving the tissues. After the basic mummification process was completed, the embalmers then wrapped the mummy in layers of linen bandages, between which they inserted protected amulets to guard the deceased from evil and danger. A decomposing body will soon begin to swell and loose its recognizable human form. This swelling will effect all of the body, but is particularly apparent in the abdomen, where gasses being produced by bacteria inflate the intestines. Removal of the internal organs of course aids in preventing this process. However, bandaging of the body also prevents or at least restricts such swelling, as well as excluding air from direct contact with the corpse, thus slowing deterioration. Bandaging would also prevent the formation of blisters on the skin, caused by fluid within the body, which appear in the first stages of decomposition. Next, a liquid or semi-liquid resinous substance was then poured over the mummy and coffin. The mummy and coffin were then returned to the family of the deceased for the funeral and burial. The two less expensive forms of mummification that Herodotus mentions did not involve the complete evisceration of the body. In a second method, which was also used for animal mummification, oil of cedar was injected into the anus, which was then plugged to prevent the liquid from escaping. The body was afterwards treated with natron. Next, the oil was drained off and the intestines and the stomach, which became liquefied by the natron, came away with the oil. All that remained was actually the skin and the skeleton. The body was returned to the family in this state for burial. However, this was even superior to the cheapest method, where the body was purged so that the intestines came away. Afterwards, the body was treated with natron. Over the long history of ancient Egyptian mummification, there were only two major additions to the basic procedure. From as early as the Middle Kingdom, the brain was removed in some mummies and by the New Kingdom, this procedure of ex-cerebration had become widespread. This process involved the insertion of a metal hook by the embalmer into the cranial cavity through the nostril and ethmoid bone, and the brain was pulverized to fragments so that it could be removed with a spatula type instrument. However, at times, access was gained to the cranial cavity either through the base of the skull or an eye socket. Obviously, it would have been impossible to remove every small fragment of the brain through any of these methods. Before the mummification was complete, the emptied cranial cavity was packed with strips of linen that had been impregnated with resin, though at other times molten resin was poured into the skull. The second innovation in mummification was probably not introduced until as late as the 21st Dynasty. Then the embalmers sought to develop a technique that originally had been used during the 18th Dynasty mummification of King Amenhotep III. His embalmers had attempted to recreate the plumpness of the king’s appearance by introducing packing under the skin of his mummy though incisions made in his legs, neck and arms. The priests of the 21st Dynasty began to use this subcutaneous packing for anyone who could afford such an expensive technique. Now, the body cavities were packed through a flank incision with sawdust, butter, linen and mud, and the four individually wrapped packages of viscera were also inserted into these cavities, rather than being placed in canopic jars. Subcutaneous material was also inserted through mall incisions into the skin, the neck and the face was packed through the mouth. Hence, the embalmers attempted to retain the original body contours at least to some extent in order to give the mummy a more lifelike appearance. In fact, artificial eyes were often placed in the eye sockets and the skin was sometimes painted with red ocher (for men) or yellow ocher (for women). False plaits and curls were even woven into the natural hair. However, these very expensive and time consuming processes were not retained beyond the 23rd Dynasty. The Rituals and Accessories of Mummification Mummification was attended to in the embalmer’s workshop, known as wbt (place of purification). There may have been some such workshops erected near specific tombs, but because mummification had an “impure” nature and was considered to be associated with certain dangers, most workshops would have been situated outside the actual tomb enclosure. Most workshops, and particularly those that dealt with many bodies, were located somewhat close to the necropolises or temples. There were actually a number of different rites associated with the mummification process. Some of these were performed in the embalmer’s workshop, though the most important of these, known as the Opening of the Mouth ceremony, was normally carried out at the tomb itself. Yet, there were many other less important rituals that were probably performed throughout the seventy days that Herodotus and others tell us were required for the mummification process. One question Egyptologists have not specifically answered is whether the rituals, which themselves were long and extensive, caused the need for the lengthy embalming process, or instead whether the rituals were extended because of the time required for mummification. The embalmers and priests used a variety of tools and accessories in the mummification process and its associated rites. In the actual preparation of the body, the embalmers and their assistants employed a blade of obsidian, sometimes called a “stone of Ethiopia”, to make the incision in the side of the mummy. They also used a hooked tool for brain extraction, as noted above, together with various containment vessels which held the plant remains and resin used to anoint the mummy. Of course, there were amulets placed between the layers of bandages and a cartoonage mask was placed on the face. There were also chest and foot covers placed over the mummy to supply support, and even toe and finger stalls were sometimes utilized to prevent damage to those appendages. The Embalmers and Others Associated with the Mummification Process In the mature practice of mummification, there were three distinct groups of practitioners. They included the cutter who made the incision in the flank of the mummy, the scribe who supervised this work and the embalmer himself, who belonged to a special guild or organization and was responsible for leading the mummification ceremonies and for wrapping the mummy in bandages. The latter actually supervised all of the stages of the mummification process and wore a jackal-headed mask to impersonate Anubis, the god of embalming, as he performed the rituals. The embalmers were actually a special class of priest and were considered to be highly skilled professionals, probably with close ties with the medical doctors. Their office was hereditary. Under their charge might be others, including those who made coffins and wooden funerary figures, as well as other items for the tomb. On the other hand, the cutters had one of the lowest statuses in society, because of the ritual “impurity” associated with the incision in the corpse and the removing of the viscera. They also obviously faced certain health risks. This class of individual in the mummification process may have even included criminals. Others included in the mummification procedure and the funeral included priests of Osiris, who performed the rituals, lector priests, who recited the chants and the ritual instructions and the men who washed and cleansed the mummy and the viscera, prepared the natron and resin, and actually wrapped the body with layers of linen bandages. The whole process associated with death became a major industry that employed many workers including mourners and even dancers. http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/mummification.htm



The Mummification Museum in Luxor

The word “mummification” comes from the Persian word “mummya” meaning bitumen or pitch. In the Arabic language mummification means tahneet and it comes from the word “hanoot”, meaning the substances that are used to aromatize the body of the deceased. From this is derived the word “hanoty”, which refers to the man who does the preparation of the deceased from death to burial. The Mummification Museum in Luxor is the best place to learn about the most powerful secrets of the pharaohs. It is set in an underground hall on the Nile, next to the national ferry on the east bank. The ancient Egyptians imagined the underground world of the dead, where Osiris dwelt, though this actually changed over time. From very early times, they protected the afterlife of the dead by mummification, offerings, writing the name of the deceased and utterances in their calls.The collection of ancient funerary spells known as the Pyramids Texts tells us: “Secure your head to the bones” (spell 13) “Collect your bones, gather together your limbs, throw the sand from your flesh” (spell 373) “The spirit is for the heavens, the corpse is for the Earth” According to their beliefs, the ancient Egyptians thought that the survival of the body was necessary for the survival of the seven different elements of their being. These include: The physical body, which was mummified, wrapped in linen and protected with various amulets in a coffin and deposited within it’s tomb. The Ka, which represented the vital life force, was created at the same time as a man’s body, which it resembled in every respect. It was free to move between the burial chamber, the funerary statue and the offering place to collect the offerings. The Ba, often represented by a human headed Ba bird with features of the deceased could take any shape and it revisited the world of the living and traveled across the sky in the sun-god’s boat, always returning to reunite with it’s corpse in the tomb. The Akh was the most unearthly of spirits that severed all ties with mortal remains in order to join the cold and imperishable stars. This beneficent spirit gained through piety and good deeds. The Ib represented the aware heart. The heart could determine the worth of its owner during judgment. The Rn, or specifically the name of the deceased, was carved on the walls of the tombs and hymns were chanted to keep the deceased’s name forever. The Inseparable Shadow, called the “shwt”. The shadow remained with the body. Although all those seven elements were important, they believed that the preservation of the physical body form was essential for survival in the afterlife. This is because they believed that the destruction of the body would mean the decay of the soul. All these elements are displayed in the Mummification Museum. There were also two other symbols that were vital for the Egyptians in the mummification process. The Ankh, (key of life), which was the symbol of life itself. The Djed Pillar, which is the symbol of stability, was thought to perhaps be linked with the backbone of Osiris. Of course, the mummification process changed somewhat over time. In general though, shortly after death, the body of the deceased was brought to the pre-nefr, which means “the beautiful house” or the place of mummification. The body was stripped of its clothes, and the embalmers washed the body with scared water, which was taken from a sacred local lake. A chisel was passed through the ethmoid bone into the cranial cavity, and with a spatula they cut the brain into small pieces. Then a hooked rod was inserted, and turned to make the brain liquefy in order to extract the brain through the nostrils. After that, they cleaned the skull cavity with palm wine, stuffed it with linen and poured resinous liquid into the skull. After treating the head, the embalmers moved to the trunk of the body. The viscera were extracted through an incision, which was usually made in the left side of the abdomen. Through it, they extracted all of the entrails except the heart. The thoracic and abdominal cavities were cleaned and rinsed with palm-wine, and then treated with powder and ointment. The museum shows a wonderfully mummified vertical section of a body to show the result of this process. They show, as well, the instruments used in the process like the scissors, scalpel, and cutters. Lastly they placed each organ in one of four so-called canopic jars. These jars take the form of the four sons of Horus, who protected the mummified viscera. After they finished the extraction of the viscera they washed the body cavity with palm-wine. Then they inserted into the thoracic and abdominal cavities temporary stuffing materials enclosed in linen packets containing dry natron to speed dehydration of the body tissues and fats. Other packets were full of sawdust to absorb liquids. The next and final stage in the embalming process was the treatment of the whole body with natron. A type of salt, it extracts the water in the body tissues, drying it out to dehydrate the body. They placed the body in a heap of solid natron on a slanting bed and piled the natron around the body for forty days. The temporary stuffing packages and the natron dried the body, and were changed regularly by the embalmers. After the forty days, the body was taken out of the natron and the temporary stuffing packages were removed from the thoracic and abdominal cavities. They washed the chest and abdominal cavity with palm wine and stuffed it with fresh dry materials; these included aromatically perfumed cloth packing, Nile mud, myrrh, cassia, linen, resin, saw dust, and one or two onions. They then closed the two lips of the incision with linen string. After that the body was anointed with cedar oil. The mouth, ears, and the nose were sealed with bee’s wax or linen in molten resin and the body was wrapped with linen. The aim of the wrapping was to preserve the mummy. Binding was used to keep the wrapping tight and in place. Many of the substances used in mummification are displayed at the Mummification Museum, including natron, which is still mined from the area of Wadi Natrun west of the delta near the north coast of Egypt. Other substances can even be purchased today from many spices dealers spread all around Luxor. The museum even shows a bottle that contains the mummification liquid. When the tomb of Amun Tef Nakht of the 27th Dynasty was discovered, the embalmers who mummified him left much of the materials of mummification with him. This liquid came from the results of the interaction between these materials and the body. The Mummification Museum demonstrates this process very clearly. There are drawings, copied from many tombs all over Egypt, that demonstrate the mummification process. There is, for instance, the scene of the deceased and his wife sitting down before the offering table. Their son wears the leopard skin and makes various offerings to his parents. This scene is displayed in the museum and was copied from the burial chamber of the tomb of Sennefer. Another scene from a papyrus of a royal scribe depicts the mummy on a funeral bier between Isis and Nephthys in the form of two birds. One of the most important displays in the Mummification Museum is the mummy of Masaharta, the son of King Panedjem, from the 21st Dynasty. He was a high priest of Amun and an army general during that dynasty. This mummy was found in the Dier El Bahari cache, which contained the mummies of some forty kings, queens and other royalty. The funerary boat is another very important cultural display in the museum. These were used to carry the mummy to the west bank in the presence of the goddess Isis, mother of Horus, wife of Osiris and Nephthys, mother of Anubis, wife of Seth and sister of Isis. Another important display is an Osiris statue. He is the father of Horus and the brother of Isis. He was thought to have been the first to be mummified by Anubis and the first one who was raised in the afterlife. He is the lord of the Judgment hall, the god of the dead, and one of the most famous Egyptian gods, particularly in later times. There is also Anubis, the jackal god. The myth tells that Anubis mummified the body of Osiris with the help of the four sons of Horus. For this, the Egyptian religion gave Anubis many titles such as the god of mummification and the one who protected the dead. In the Mummification Museum there is a very interesting collection of mummified animals. There is a mummy of a fish, which is the symbol of rebirth. The fish cult center was Esna. The Nile is famous for this kind of fish, called the Nile lattes fish. There is also a mummified baboon. Baboons were considered the manifestation of the god Thoth, who was considered to be the god of scribes, the measurer of time and the god of the moon. In the judgment hall of Osiris, Thoth stands by the side of the balance holding a palette and records the results of the weighing of the heart as announced by the dog-headed ape who sits on the middle of the beam of the scales. There is also a cat mummy, the sacred animal of the god Bastet. The most wonderful animal mummy is that of a ram because it was held inside a gold coffin. It represents the sacred animal of the god Khnum, who was a creator god whose cult center was Elephantine. The last section of the museum is the coffins section. The pharaohs gave great attention to their afterlife, and a big element of this attention was the coffins. There is the beautiful coffin cover of Padi-Amun, the high priest of Amun. It has lotus flowers on its forehead and a wig. There is also the coffin cover of Masaharti, without the face and hands, because the thieves found it and took these golden pieces. The lights in the museum are muted with only special spotlights on the displays. The museum isn’t large but each display is a story in itself and reflects a very important section of the old Egyptian history and culture. The Mummification Museum is useful because it provides an educational overview of the processes surrounding the death of ancient Egyptians, and therefore insight into the tombs that are frequented by tourists. Obviously, the traditions surrounding the funerary process were a key element in the ancient Egyptian belief system. Furthermore, Egyptian funerary practices can be said to form the basis of many funerary practices even today. Incidently, the bookshop at the Mummification Museum is an excellent place to pick up material on this fascinating topic http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/mummificationmuseum.htm  tweetme_url = ‘http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/mummificationmuseum.htm’;tweetmeme_source = ‘touregyptnet’;tweetme_window = ‘new’;tweetme_bgcolor = ‘#f5f5f5’;tweetmeme_source = ‘touregyptnet’;tweetme_title = ‘The Mummification Museum in Luxor’;

Pharaonic medicine

Medicine Pharaonic that emerged and developed before the advent of Hbbokratis twenty-five centuries – reached a high degree of progress, has been known pharaohs many branches of medical professionalism and skill, but they know much of what science knows is talking about the causes of diseases and how to prevent them. And the Pharaohs first to use surgical sutures surgery and organ transplantation, and excelled in, and eyes of industrial and anesthesia and surgery, dental and knew arteries and veins and courses vessels and thin-film and performed surgery on the brain and sensitive areas successfully and the first to use antibiotics penicillin and used to refer pregnant women to test the urine test to see if the fetus is male or female, and the first devised a birthing chair.

Since the Second Dynasty appeared a simple method of embalming private classes-rich, and the evolution of mummification in the time of the Third Dynasty 2900 BC. M, where the mummified viscera carefully and placed in four containers of stone kept the liver and lungs, intestines, stomach, and to keep these organs are permanently engraved on the lid of these vessels. a picture of one of the sons of Horos the four, is one of them with a fox and the second with a falcon, and the third with a man and the fourth with a monkey, and since the Sixth Dynasty and found a layer of mummified (Parakista) living separately because of their profession, but in Dynasty 18-20 (1500-1100) BC. m, the art of mummification reached its peak, but it is strange that the embalming process this does not fall within the medical sciences and in charge of this operation does not pay attention carefully to the body’s anatomical structures.

Methods of mummification:

(1) save the objects in a cold climate.

(2) injection of sterile disinfectants or in blood vessels, which spread to all parts of the body and tissues.

(3) dry the body completely and save it in isolation from moisture.

There are two ways to dry the body:

1 – either by the heat.

2 – or through the dried chemicals absorb water.

Temperatures are either natural sunlight or heat generated from the fuel, but the latter, which cost a lot because they need a large amount of fuel, which was not available in Egypt at that time,Therefore, the preferred use of cheap chemicals, which can be embalmed the body with lime, salt or natron.



Pharaonic mummification

New scientific study shows that the ancient Egyptians were using complex mixtures of plant and animal extracts for embalming their dead. British researchers have conducted tests for three years a sample of the material used by ancient Egyptians in embalming Momciawathm. The analysis showed the presence of a very large group of components, including the types of animal fats and vegetable oils, beeswax and vegetable glues.

Researchers have discovered that the embalming materials created by the Pharaohs was a combination of cheap materials, and other precious and rare at that time, such as rice and oil of juniper, which were Isturdan from outside Egypt

 

Showed the analysis conducted on samples taken from the mummies belonging to the successive eras of the Pharaohs embalming materials developed over time by adding the components of the deadly germs to protect the mummies of decomposition.

Egyptians loved life, and it was important for them to continue to enjoy even after death. The graves were good part of the acceptance of death. The Egyptians were not preoccupied with death, but they were taking far too long in preparing for death, and after entering the other world.
The Egyptians believed that the mummy is the place of the soul and the spouse and common sense. The purpose of life is the life of the other spouse during the reservation because it is the physical form of the deceased. Therefore developed a method of ancient Egyptian mummification in order to preserve the body intact and preserve the physical features in order to know him the soul, because the destruction of the flesh may mean the courtyard of the soul.
The most distinctive Aldvinat limited to kings, priests and their families and senior employees. Even those people who have not been able to get on the graves of distinct, assigned members of their families that equip them with the reasonable point of mummification.

The mummification process takes about seventy days, and here was the body of the deceased cleans and purifies

The next step is to extract the internal organs, and to dry the viscera and to prevent erosion were placed in natron, a type of salt used in the drying.The intestines were damaged in linen strips and then placed in canopic vessels. And cleans the abdominal cavity and other stuffed quantities of natron. Did not tend taxidermists never heart of the deceased, where I think that the heart is the center of being and mind. The brain and surrounding tissues They were taken out carefully



Body was covered by natron to extract moisture and dries slowly in order to retain its shape and the outside. The process of drying the body takes about forty days. Nitrite and here was lifted from the body, which was then washed and the body was wrapped in hundreds of yards of linen scrolls. Each finger wraps and only then after that damage to the hand or foot as a whole. During the process of wrapping the body Ballvaúv amulets and charms placed on the body and read prayers and calls