Mummy Info

Did you know that a mummy is actually an embalmed body that has been preserved for thousands and thousands of years. Believe it or not ancient Egyptians believed that the dead lived on into the next world, and that their bodies had to be preserved forever as they were in life. The Egyptians spent alot of effort in developing different methods of embalming because they believed the body would serve a person after it was projected into the next world. Thousands of years later archaeologists found the preserved bodies in tombs. The most famous mummies are probably those of Ramses II and Tutankhamen, who were rulers, or pharaohs, of Egypt.

Scientists now know what materials and processes the Egyptians used to mummify bodies. The process was simple when mummifying began. It gradually became more elaborate. Wealthy persons could afford a more expensive treatment than the poor could. Ancient texts state that a complete treatment took 70 days. Embalmers removed the brains through a nostril. They removed the internal organs, except the heart and the kidneys, the organs were stored in jars called canopic(kuh-no-pick) through an incision such as a surgeon makes. They usually filled the empty abdomen with linen pads and sometimes with sawdust. The bodies were sprinkled with salt like crystals called natron(nay-tron) so it would dry out faster.

Then they placed the body in natron(sodium carbohydrate) until the tissues were dried out. Finally, they wrapped the body carefully in many layers of linen bandages and placed it in a coffin. Sometimes there were 2 or more coffins one inside the other. The coffins were made of wood or stone,and either rectangular or shaped like the wrapped mummy The mummy in its coffin was placed in the tomb along with many of its belongings that the person had used daily.

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How did the Ancient Egyptians take out the brains through a mummy's nose?

A few days after the person died, the body was taken to an embalmer. Then the embalmers took out the mushy bits out so the body wouldn't rot so fast. Then the embalmers inserted a metal rod in the left nostril and smashed the bone that separates the root of the nose from the skull. Then the embalmer removed the brain bit by bit.

Check This Out!

Did you know that dry climate areas such as Peru, Mexico and Egypt, preserve dead bodies almost as well as the Egyptian Embalming methods did? Such naturally preserved bodies are sometimes called mummies, too. The word "Mummy" comes from a Persian word meaning wax used in embalming.