Essay:
For a long time, people were used to think that after death, their bodies would be sent to another life. Therefore, the idea of keeping people as they were alive is very old from about 4,000 years ago. Mummification is a way to keep dead people’s bodies with the same structure for a long time. In addition, the ancient Egyptians were famous in this field because their way of mummifying is still considered a mystery until now for scientists. Furthermore, many people ask themselves some questions about mummification all the time after they heard or knew about it; what is the purpose of mummifying people? In addition, what kind of materials did the ancient Egyptians use to mummify their dead people and remain until now with little change in their structure? Moreover, what is the process of mummification? Also, what kind of knowledge they had and we do not have now? After those questions, the ancient Egyptians mummified their dead people because of their belief of afterlife and they used lot of materials that they utilized to mummify their deceased, such as natron, linen, oil and tar.
In ancient Egypt, people had a religious belief that the body after death would be sent to the afterlife. They thought that the deceased had to be in good condition to travel to the afterlife and arrive safely to meet God. In addition, they had to ensure that the body should be as the same as the original structure as possible or at least close to the original. Therefore, they came up with the idea of mummification in order to preserve their bodies. After that, they started to prepare the deceased to meet their God by mummifying them. Nevertheless, not all the dead people were mummified with the complex way that ancient Egyptians were famous for. Because the rich people had the big opportunity to meet God, they were put in tombs after their death. In addition, their thinking was that rich people were going to serve God better than poor people. On the other hand, poor people or people who did not have money to provide for themselves or for their relatives tombs to be put in, were buried in the desert. As a result, those people who were buried in the desert, their opportunity to meet their God in the afterlife was very low.
Ancient Egyptians used lots of materials that existed in their time and were considered a mystery for a long time. On of the materials is the brown resin, which was used in the embalming process. “The brown embalming resin also contains sesquiterpenoid components, which are normally found in a fluid known as 'cedar oil'. This oil is prepared by extraction with organic solvents of wood from Cedrus atlantica” (Koller, Baumer, Kaup, Schmid & Wese, a 2003, pp. 4). Moreover, they used natron, which is a natural salt that used to dry out dead bodies and internal organs in the mummification process, and some scientists name it sodium salt. Besides natron, they used liquid tar, which was put on the surface of the body in order to protect the skin from decomposing. “In the mummification process sodium salts were successfully used for dehydration of the soft tissues. Tar products of plant origin and resin of pistachio were known to seal the surface of mummified bones and to minimize possible microbial attacks on functionally active alkaline phosphatase” (Koller, Baumer, Kaup, Schmid & Wese, b, 2003, pp.9). Also, they utilized linen, which used especially to wrap the body.
The process of mummification, which would take 70 days, included two steps; the first was the embalming and the second was the wrapping. The initial step was taking the deceased to be embalmed in an especial tent where all the embalmers were ready. The first part to be removed was the brain. Because Egyptians thought that the heart is where people use for thinking, they thought that the brain was not important and they had to get rid of it. They inserted a hook through the nose to the brain and smash it. After that, the brain would be pulled out through the nose. The next step was removing the internal organs, which were the liver, the lungs, the stomach and the intestines. The embalmers had to make an aperture to pull the organs. Then they washed the body with palm oil. After that, they had to fill the body with linen in order to not lose its original shape or structure. Drying the body was the next step, which would be done by covering the whole body with the natron. This step would take approximately 40 days. The second step of mummification was wrapping of the body. The body would be covered with oils. Then it would be wrapped with linen and each finger and toe should be covered individually. After that the priests’ turn would come. The priest put amulets to protect the deceased in its journey to God and they would finish the mummification process by praying to the deceased. (The British Museum, 1999)
To sum up, mummification is a way to preserve the body from the damage that could happen to it during the time and the weather. Ancient Egyptians were well known in this field because of their experiences in medicine. This process was ambiguous for scientists for a long time and even now they do not know how the Egyptians mummified those people and their body was stable for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians mummified their dead people because of their religious belief about the afterlife and they had to meet God without any differences in their body’s structure between before they died and after. In addition, to do this operation, they utilized lots of materials such as resin, tar and natron that was used for drying the body and some oils. The mummification process was completed in two parts. The first one was embalming and the second part was wrapping. In the embalming part, they removed most of the internal organs such as the brain. Therefore, the brain was just a waste of space. Then they dried the body with natron by covering it with the natron for 40 days. Moreover, in the second part of mummification, the wrapped the body with linen and they would finish the mummification with praying for the deceased.
Recourses:
1- Koller. J, Baumer. U, Kaup. Y, Schmid. M & Wese. U. a (2003, October). Ancient materials: Analysis of a pharaonic embalming tar. Nature, p. 425. Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v425/n6960/full/425784a.html#B3
2- Koller. J, Baumer. U, Kaup. Y, Schmid. M & Wese. U. b (2003, March). Borate in mummification salts and bones from Pharaonic Egypt. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0162013403000023#toc13
3- The British Museum, (1999). Mummification. Retrieved from
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