Guided
Tour of Ancient Egypt
by Darlene Bishop, Kent
School District, WA
Original Text
© Darlene Bishop
Mummies
Mummification is the preservation
of the body of a dead person or animal. The Egyptians were absolute
masters at this craft. It not known exactly when this practice
first began, but there is evidence dating back to the Pre-Dynastic
Period showing bodies in fetal positions placed in shallow graves
or tombs and mummified by the sand, intense sun and heat. During
the New Kingdom is when the art is truly perfected as shown by
the picture of Ramesses II.
The process of mummification
is complex. There are actually 70 steps which need to be carried
out over 70 days. The main stages are as follows:
- Removal of the brain through
the nostrils
- Removal of the intestines through
an incision in the side
- Sterilization of the body and
intestines
- Treating, cleaning, dehydrating
the intestines
- Packing the body with natron
(a natural dehydrating agent) and leaving for 40 days
- Removal of the natron agent
- Packing the limbs with clay
or sand
- Packing the body with linen
(soaked in resin), myrrh and cinnamon
- Treating the body with ointments
and finally wrapping with a fine linen gauze, not less than 1000
square yards
-
Finally the body or mummy was
placed in a coffin, usually in the shape of the corpse. Sometimes
several coffins were placed one inside the other, and then these
were in turn placed inside a stone sarcophagus. The internal
organs, such as the stomach, intestines, and liver were mummified
as well and then placed in canopic jars made of alabaster. The
jars were then placed near the sarcophagus in the tomb or in
some cases between the legs of the mummy itself. The process
of mummification was usually for the wealthy such as royalty,
nobles, or scribes. The poorer people merely wrapped their deceased
in linen and placed in shallow graves in the sand.
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Complementary
Resources
CTCWeb Resources
Virtual
Ancient Museum
Roots
of English: an Etymological Dictionary
Ancient
Olympics
Scratch,
Glue, Foil & Paint: Connecting Classics and the Art Curriculum
Ancient Egypt
Knowledge Builders
Dress & Costume, Zeus,
Colonization, Homer's Iliad &
Odyssey,
and more.
Teachers' Companions
Dress & Costume, Zeus,
Colonization, Homer's Iliad &
Odyssey,
and more.
Other Resources
Mysteries
of Egypt
Egyptian Art and Archaeology
The Art of the Fake
Global Glossary Terms
- Alexander
the Great
- Caesar
- Ptolemy
- Caligula
- Cleopatra
- Medea
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