The practice continued and developed for well over 2, years, into the Roman Period ca. Within any one period the quality of the mummification varied, depending on the price paid for it. The best prepared and preserved mummies are from the Eighteenth through the Twentieth Dynasties of the New Kingdom ca. It is the general process of this period that shall be described here. The mummification process took seventy days. Special priests worked as embalmers, treating and wrapping the body. Beyond knowing the correct rituals and prayers to be performed at various stages, the priests also needed a detailed knowledge of human anatomy.
The first step in the process was the removal of all internal parts that might decay rapidly. The brain was removed by carefully inserting special hooked instruments up through the nostrils in order to pull out bits of brain tissue. It was a delicate operation, one which could easily disfigure the face. The embalmers then removed the organs of the abdomen and chest through a cut usually made on the left side of the abdomen.
They left only the heart in place, believing it to be the center of a person's being and intelligence. The other organs were preserved separately, with the stomach, liver, lungs, and intestines placed in special boxes or jars today called canopic jars. These were buried with the mummy. In later mummies, the organs were treated, wrapped, and replaced within the body.
Even so, unused canopic jars continued to be part of the burial ritual. The embalmers next removed all moisture from the body. This they did by covering the body with natron, a type of salt which has great drying properties, and by placing additional natron packets inside the body.
When the body had dried out completely, embalmers removed the internal packets and lightly washed the natron off the body. The result was a very dried-out but recognizable human form. To make the mummy seem even more life-like, sunken areas of the body were filled out with linen and other materials and false eyes were added. Next the wrapping began. Each mummy needed hundreds of yards of linen. The priests carefully wound the long strips of linen around the body, sometimes even wrapping each finger and toe separately before wrapping the entire hand or foot.
They also hunted animals on land and gathered edible plants from the surrounding area. Related: Desert dryness inspired mummy diversity. The Chinchorro practice of mummification began around 7, years ago, some two millennia before the first known Egyptian mummies, according to the same CNN report.
Although the practice became more sophisticated over time, the basic process remained the same. It involved the removal of soft tissue, organs and brains. The hollow body was then dried out and reassembled. The skin was stuffed with reeds, dried plants or other vegetal matter.
Sticks were inserted into the arms and legs. Clay masks were placed on the corpses' faces and wigs were often attached.
The finished mummy was then painted. During the early phases of Chinchorro society about 7, — 4, years ago , mummies were painted with black manganese. From B. Not just the elite but all segments of Chinchorro society were mummified, including infants, children, adults and even fetuses. It was in ancient Egypt, however, that mummification reached its greatest elaboration.
The first Egyptian mummies appear in the archaeological record at approximately B. By the time of the Old Kingdom, or Age of the Pyramids ca. It became a mainstay during subsequent periods, reaching particular heights of sophistication during the New Kingdom ca.
Unlike in Chinchorro society, mummification in ancient Egypt was typically reserved for the elite of society such as royalty, noble families, government officials and the wealthy. The key to having a smooth reunification was the ancient Egyptian mummification process that tried to preserve all the important parts, including the intestines.
The natural mummies of Egypt were preserved in hot sand. However, in the mummification process , the Egyptians used natron powder to take out all the humidity in the body without darkening and hardening the skin. The final step was to wash and wrap the body in linen bandages. The mummification process in ancient Egypt was a vital but expensive one. All the dead were mummified, but the length of the process and the quality depended on how much the family of the dead could pay.
King Tutankhamun or King Tut, a 30,year-old mummy, is the most famous mummy. This Egyptian pharaoh died at a very young age, after a reign of almost 10 years. The mummification process common in ancient Egypt was also applied for this great pharaoh but the cause of death remains unknown.
By Robert Garland P. It was a lengthy and costly process, which was not equally performed for everyone. Some even had to start the afterlife without their inner organs, which was not the most pleasant situation, but inevitable! What is a Mummy? The Greek Story of the Egyptian Process The best source describing the Egyptian mummification process is the historical writings of Herodotus.
The Perfect Way to Die The ideal mummification process took 80 days. Preserving a dead body was a widespread practice, common to many societies of the past. Perhaps the most well-known rituals belong to the ancient Egyptians, who kept corpses intact through a process called mummification. In fact, the procedure was so successful that we still can view the mummified body of an Egyptian today, over 3, years after their death, and get a good picture of what they looked like.
Ancient Egyptians loved life and believed in immortality. This motivated them to make early plans for their death. While this may seem contradictory, for Egyptians, it made perfect sense: They believed that life would continue after death and that they would still need their physical bodies. Thus, preserving bodies in as lifelike a way as possible was the goal of mummification, and essential to the continuation of life. The Egyptians believed that the mummified body housed one's soul or spirit.
If the body was destroyed, the spirit could be lost and not make its entrance into the afterlife. This is also why tomb preparation was a crucial ritual in Egyptian society. Though the practice of mummification began in Egypt around B. These attitudes slowly shifted around B.
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