By: Alyssa Paige DayDate: 2-16-11

!Egyptians Mummies!

Mummies & There Facts

1. Mummification was not limited to Egyptians. Greeks and Romans who resided in Egypt were also mummified in Egyptian fashion.

2. The process of mummification continued in Egypt as late as the fifth century C.E, then slowly tapered off when Christianity took hold.

3. From 400 to 1400 C.E. there was a common belief that mummia was a potent medicine with curative powers. This mummia was obtained by grinding up actual mummies.

4. Many travelers who visited Egypt from Europe in the 1600s and 1700s took mummies home and displayed them as centerpieces or in curio cabinets.

5. In 1896, British archaeologist William Flinders Petrie began using X-ray techniques to examine mummies without unwrapping them.

King Tut Mummified

This is King Tut’s mummy under his mask. Isn’t it AWESOME! I think this is so interesting.

Mummie tombs

Mummy Mask

This is King Tut’s Mask.

What is a mummy mask? Well I will tell you. It was a mask that a diseased person wore on their face to protect it from decaying and breaking. It is also a decoration for the afterlife

Egyptian mummy

Mummifaction Steps 1. The body was washed 2. 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 Ancient Egyptians believed to be the centre of emotion and intelligence, was left in the body for use in the next life.

3 A hooked instrument was used to remove the brain through the nose. The brain was not considered to be important and was thrown away.

4. The body and the internal organs were packed with natron salt for forty days to remove all moisture.

  5. The dried organs were wrapped in linen and placed in canopic jars. The lid of each jar was shaped

to represent one of Horus' four sons. The picture (right) taken by Nina Aldin Thune shows from left to right -

Imsety, who had a human head - guardian of the liverHapy, who had the head of a baboon - guardian of the lungsQebehsenuf, who had the head of a falcon - guardian of the intestinesDuamatef, who had the head of a jackal - guardian of the stomach

    6. The body was cleaned and the dried skin rubbed with oil. 7. The body was packed with sawdust and rags and the open cuts sealed with wax 8. The body was wrapped in linen bandages. About 20 layers were used and this took 15 to 20 days. 9. A death mask was placed over the bandages 10. The bandaged body was placed in a shroud (a large sheet of cloth) which was secured with linen

strips. 11. The body was then placed in a decorated mummy case or coffin.

Animal Mummies

What are mummies?

When you think of a mummy what comes to mind? Most of us usually picture an Egyptian mummy wrapped in bandages and buried deep inside a pyramid. While the Egyptian ones are the most famous, mummies have been found in many places throughout the world, from Greenland to China to the Andes Mountains of South America. A mummy is the body of a person (or an animal) that has been preserved after death. Normally when we die, bacteria and other germs eat away at the soft tissues (such as skin and muscles) leaving only the bones behind. Since bacteria need water in order to grow, mummification usually happens if the body dries out quickly after death. The body may then be so well preserved that we can even tell how the dead person may have looked in life.

Mummies are made naturally or by embalming, which is any process that people use to help preserve a dead body. Mummies can be dried out by extreme cold, by the sun, by smoke, or using chemicals such as natron. Some bodies become mummies because there were favorable natural conditions when they died. Others were preserved and buried with great care.

The ancient Egyptians believed that mummifying a person's body after death was essential to ensure a safe passage to the afterlife.

Who Are Mummies?

Over time almost all Egyptians who could afford to became mummies when they died -- a total of about 70 million mummies in 3,000 years. By the 4th century AD, many Egyptians had become Christians and no longer believed that mummification was necessary for life after death. Eventually, the Egyptians gave up the art and science of making mummies.

So where did all the mummies go? Sadly, most were plundered in ancient times by grave robbers and vandals looking for treasures wrapped up in the bandages. Countless mummies were also destroyed during the Middle Ages, when they were ground into powders to make supposedly magical potions. Later on, modern treasure hunters blundered into their tombs looking for artifacts and souvenirs. Even industry aided the destruction by using mummies' bandages to make paper or burning their bodies for fuel.

The best preserved mummies are those of the pharoahs and their relatives. These mummies tended to be more carefully embalmed and protected from harm. The mummies that have survived allow us to look back into the past and know something of the ancient Egyptians and their time. Three of the most famous Egyptians mummies are Tutankhamen, Seti I and Rameses II (Ramses the Great).

The World Of The Afterlife

The ancient Egyptians believed that death was the end of physical life in this world.   But they also believed that through death one could be renewed and live an eternal life free from the physical limitations of age or poverty, just as the god Osiris had, who was also once a mortal human.   One's renewal didn't come about in this world, though. Renewal came about in the mysterious underworld of the primeval waters, known as "Nun."

The Underworld was seperate from this world.   One could not see it or get to it by normal means, though. The Underworld could be reached only through your imagination, and through your knowledge of the path of the sun.

Ba returning to the tomb. The ancient Egyptians believed that the sun moved around the Earth.  During the day, it traveled from the eastern to the western horizon.  After setting in the west, they believed the sun descended into the Underworld and traveled under the earth until it came up again in the east.  For this reason, the Underworld is sometimes called the "West."

It is down into this place under the earth, then, that the mummified dead go when they die.   The mummy's tomb was identified with this Underworld, where the mummy remained motionless while its ba traveled freely throughout the mysterious spaces seeking to unite with its ka.

Resources

http://www.kingtutone.com/mummies/animals/

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_mummy_mask

http://www.site-ology.com/egypt/KT.HTM

http://www.historyonthenet.com/Egyptians/mummies.htm

http://www.unexplainedstuff.com/Afterlife-Mysteries/Mummy-Facts.html

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=egyptian+tombs&cp=11&wrapid=tljp1298489442024022&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&sa=X&ei=aGBlTay0LIujtgfwwdzeBg&sqi=2&ved=0CDIQsAQ&biw=1004&bih=592&safe=active

http://www2.si.umich.edu/chico/mummy/who.html