Making An Egyptian Mummy

Mummification comes with a plethora of beliefs built around it. In the world of horror, it has managed to acquire a ghastly interpretation. This traditional ritual though is based on the beliefs of an entire vanished culture. Mummification was a lasting and complex process, attained through trial and error with the material. It was central to people's belief in the attainment of an afterlife. They believed that post death, the soul (Ka) must return to a body that was ready to receive it. Mummifying the body was an attempt to preserve the body and prepare it to receive the soul.

Source - mentalfloss.com

Cultural Significance of Mummification

The ancient Egyptians believed in the continuity of life after death. The preservation of the body was essential to ensure the return of the soul. The preserved body was also considered as a connection to the deceased which their family could foster as it was at least their physical embodiment, if not the person. On an added note, it was a religious belief to them involving specialized knowledge and religious persona, involving the wholistic approach to customs.

A lot of anatomical advancements today have been led forward due to this process.

The People Who Were Mummified

Since mummification required a lot of materials, layers and human input, it is not one that everyone, even in those times, could afford. The quality and complexity varied highly depending on your social status. The highest honour was given to the pharaohs and the high-ranking officials. They were called the royal mummies and were taken through elaborate processes, explained in the next section. A lot of these are found in the valley of the kings.

Individuals who were wealthy but not very privileged, chose to miss a few steps in the process and poor ones decided to just go with drying their dead in the sand.

 

Discovering Mummification

In the early years of the Egyptian civilization, mummies were buried in the deserts around the Nile. Then about five thousand, five hundred years ago, they began to bury their dead in wooden boxes or large baskets. They would also bury their dead in underground tombs. Alternatively, the Egyptians found out that the new changes did not preserve the body well enough and the bodies had begun decaying. 

With such cultural significance, this was not acceptable for them. Then with trial and error over time, they discovered better ways for preservation. In the linen and plaster method, the body was wrapped in as many layers of linen as possible. This method of the linen and plaster drying over the body of the mummy was called cartonnage. This method retained its importance and use till the beginning of the Christian era.

In the Natron method, Mummies were preserved using Natron which was a natural salt found in Egypt. It was used to salt and preserve the body. The body would be placed on a special table and would be dissected open, and natron would be placed inside. They would rub it over the body to help dry it. The organs of the body would be taken out and placed into canopic jars after washing with Natron. All of these were attached to a spiritual meaning. The jars were arranged in a separate compartment made of stone in the burial area.

Comparatively newer mummies, buried around 1570- 1070 B.C.E. were more carefully preserved where we can observe deeply into the process. By this period, a lot of rituals of civilization had also changed.

At a place called Per Nefer that translates to ‘the house of vitality’, the dead were prepared for the primary process (that is enumerated later)- evisceration and embalming. The main internal organs were removed, but in the new ones, the brain was also scooped out. Here is a step wise process followed.

 

Process of Mummification

1. Purification - Nile being the sacred river; the bodies were washed in it.

2. Evisceration - Major internal organs, except the heart, were removed. The heart was considered to be the seat of the soul. After removal, the organs were placed in canopic jars.

3. Dehydration - The body was washed in Natron salt and removed water content and helped preservation.

4. Embalming - The body was then featured with linen, sawdust or resin to retain a shape.

5. Wrapping - The mummy was wrapped in bandages made from linen and provided with the jewels or amulets that were considered as protection in the afterlife.

6. Masking - A mask was placed on the head, resembling the dead so that the soul identifies them when it comes.

 

Final Thoughts

Mummification was associated with a deeper cultural belief than is understood by our generation. The process is an attempt to speak the words of their religion. Their burial practices were often a simple attempt to protect their dead in the afterlife which stood at the center of their culture. Most of the ancient Egyptian belief was centered around afterlife and what one must do in order to make it more feasible.

 

Written By Dixitaa Jaisinghani

This article has been authored exclusively by the writer and is being presented on Eat My News, which serves as a platform for the community to voice their perspectives. As an entity, Eat My News cannot be held liable for the content or its accuracy. The views expressed in this article solely pertain to the author or writer. For further queries about the article or its content you can contact on this email address - dixitaajaisinghani@gmail.com