Mummies: Ancient Egypt's Preservation for the Afterlife

You might be wondering, “What is a mummy” well, let me tell you just that. A

mummy is dead human or animal that have their skins and organs preserved by

either an international or accidental consuming chemicals, extreme cold, very low

humidity or lack of air, so the recuperated body doesn’t decay even farther if kept

in either dry or cool states.

In ancient Egypt, they believed that when a person decreased that they

made a journey to this so called “next world.” They believed that to live in this so

called “next world” that their own body had to be preserved, or mummified. After

death, a body begins to fall apart. In order to put a stop to the body decomposing,

it is obligatory to deny the tissues of moisture and oxygen. In order to

This necessitated embalming the body when wrapping it in fine

strips of linen. Interesting fact, it would cost on average about $67,000 to me

mummified in ancient Egypt. The mummification process took about 70 days and

involved these steps:

The body is washed.

A cut was made on the left side of the abdomen and the internal organs-

intestines, liver, lungs, stomach were removed. The heart, which the

Egyptians believed to be the centre of emotion, and intelligence, was left in

the body for use in the next life.

A hooked instrument was used to remove the brain through the nose. The

brain wasn’t considered to be important and was thrown away.

The body and internal organs were packed with natron salt for 40 days to

remove all the moisture.

The dried organs were wrapped in linen and placed in canopic jars. The lid of

each jar was shaped to represent one of Horus’s four sons.

The body was cleaned and the dried skins rubbed with oil.

The body was packed with sawdust and rags and the open cut sealed with

wax.

The body was wrapped with linen bandages. About 20 layers were used and

this took 15 to 20