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Mummies
Before
the pyramids, people were put in pits dug in the ground. The hot
desert sand preserved the body. In about three thousand B.C., they
were put in flat topped tombs called “ Mastabus.” The first pyramid
was built in twenty - seven hundred B.C. It was known as the step
pyramid. Later people started to steal from pharaohs tombs so pharaohs
started to build pyramids from solid rock.
In the heart weighing ceremony,
a person's heart was weighed against an ostrich feather. If the person's
heart was heavy that meant that they had a bad life and would not have
an after life. If it was light they had lived a life of good deeds
and would go to the after life.
The Egyptians believed
that once someone died they had to pass through the under world to get
to paradise. So priest put together books of spells to protect the
person from horror and monsters.
Mummification could take
up to seventy days.
The brain was pulled out
through their nose and other vital organs were also taken out. The
Egyptians then dried them for forty days. Then the body was treated
with salts and wrapped in linen bandages. Up to four hundred and
ten yards of linen could be used. That's taller than the Empire State
Building! The Egyptians threw away the brains of the dead because
they didn't know what it was back then. We are able to learn more
about the Egyptians because of their process of mummification. |
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Egyptian Pyramids
Pyramids
are large stone structures with four triangular sides inclined
up to a common point. Many are made of rock and have a square base.
Sometimes the sides have stairs. Some pyramids are made of
sandstone and limestone blocks. Hard stone tools, such as chisels
and saws, were used to make pyramids. The blocks used to make the
pyramids were transported by ropes, sled ramps, and levers. A man's
power and technology is the most important thing that is required to build
a pyramid. Barges on the flooding Nile helped move the ramps
carrying the large stone rocks.
Pyramids had small burial rooms
inside that contained a dead pharaoh or king's mummy inside. Inside
a pyramid where the pharaoh and king's burial room, is the ruler's
possessions. The kings wanted to make sure that they had enough of
every necessary thing after they died to place in their burial room.
The first Egyptian pyramid made
of stone was made by a king named Zoser. Many pyramids were made
of mud, but Zoser’s pyramid was the first made of rock.
After Zoser’s pyramid, a king
named Cheops built the most famous pyramid ever. It took about twenty years
to make. It was regularly 481 feet tall and it's base covered more
than 13 acres. It was made of more than two million rock bricks.
4600 people worked on a pyramid
at a time. They hauled rock structures up ramps to help gather material
for the pyramids. When it reached the top they evened off and added
little stones to fill in the structures. When they were
completely finished they looked like solid stone structures. Many
stones have disappeared off of the pyramids, and the sides look as if there
covered with giant steps.
Inside of the pyramids, where
the dead king room are, it’s filled with gold and other treasures.
The bodies of the pharaohs and kings tombs are sealed with huge stones,
but it did not keep robbers away. Many pyramids were unsealed and
taken of their treasures. There about eighty pyramids left, and I
hope that no one will steal their remains. |