Mahpiya Vanderbilt
Archaeology 1
Bauer
Mummies
Ancient Egypt has become synonymous with mummies. The elaborate burials and preservation of the bodies is a defining factor of their culture. The word mummy comes from the Persian word mummia which means bitumen. The term was used in the middle ages to the embalmed bodies because of their blackened appearance of the skin, mistakenly thought to have been caused by the use of bitumen in their preservation when in actuality, the blackened appearance is a side-effect of the application of resin (Taylor ??) Mummification was a key aspect of ancient Egyptian culture and was important to the reification and acceptance of the New Kingdom royalty. As burials were a symbol of wealth and power, the mummification …show more content…
The different aspects of mummification all started as ways of slowing down decomposition. A decomposing body first starts to swell in all parts of the body, but especially in the abdomen. There, gas is produced by bacteria in the intestines which inflates the abdominal cavity. By removing the internal organs, this reduces the swelling of the body (Partridge ??). Another technique to slow decomposition was tightly bandaging the entire body which restricted the swelling, prevented the formation of blisters caused by fluids in the body, and also excluded air contact. An absence of air causes a body to decompose slower (Partridge ??). The body would deteriorate but it would be less unpleasant to handle until burial. Natron is a desiccant. By covering and filling a body with natron, it is possible to completely dry out a body. This stabilized the mummy so that it could remain unburied …show more content…
The offering place could range from the ground above the grave to large free-standing structures some distance away (Ikram 15). At the offering place, friends, family, and priests would leave foodstuffs or commune with the departed.
By the New Kingdom, it became increasingly common for funerary texts to make explicit connections between the deceased and the god Osiris, and for the descriptions of the fate of any dead individual to deliberately echo parts of the myth. Osiris was a benevolent king but was killed by his brother Seth who was jealous and wanted to be king instead. Osiris’ body was dismembered and the pieces were scattered across Egypt. Osiris’ wife Isis gathered up the fragments and Anubis, the god of embalming, bound the pieces back together. Osiris was brought back to life and became ruler of the afterlife. His son Horus defeated Seth and became the ruler of Earth. This story provides a mythological rationale for the artificial preservation of the bodies of the dead. Osiris is usually depicted as a shrouded figure resembling a
Archaeology 1
Bauer
Mummies
Ancient Egypt has become synonymous with mummies. The elaborate burials and preservation of the bodies is a defining factor of their culture. The word mummy comes from the Persian word mummia which means bitumen. The term was used in the middle ages to the embalmed bodies because of their blackened appearance of the skin, mistakenly thought to have been caused by the use of bitumen in their preservation when in actuality, the blackened appearance is a side-effect of the application of resin (Taylor ??) Mummification was a key aspect of ancient Egyptian culture and was important to the reification and acceptance of the New Kingdom royalty. As burials were a symbol of wealth and power, the mummification …show more content…
The different aspects of mummification all started as ways of slowing down decomposition. A decomposing body first starts to swell in all parts of the body, but especially in the abdomen. There, gas is produced by bacteria in the intestines which inflates the abdominal cavity. By removing the internal organs, this reduces the swelling of the body (Partridge ??). Another technique to slow decomposition was tightly bandaging the entire body which restricted the swelling, prevented the formation of blisters caused by fluids in the body, and also excluded air contact. An absence of air causes a body to decompose slower (Partridge ??). The body would deteriorate but it would be less unpleasant to handle until burial. Natron is a desiccant. By covering and filling a body with natron, it is possible to completely dry out a body. This stabilized the mummy so that it could remain unburied …show more content…
The offering place could range from the ground above the grave to large free-standing structures some distance away (Ikram 15). At the offering place, friends, family, and priests would leave foodstuffs or commune with the departed.
By the New Kingdom, it became increasingly common for funerary texts to make explicit connections between the deceased and the god Osiris, and for the descriptions of the fate of any dead individual to deliberately echo parts of the myth. Osiris was a benevolent king but was killed by his brother Seth who was jealous and wanted to be king instead. Osiris’ body was dismembered and the pieces were scattered across Egypt. Osiris’ wife Isis gathered up the fragments and Anubis, the god of embalming, bound the pieces back together. Osiris was brought back to life and became ruler of the afterlife. His son Horus defeated Seth and became the ruler of Earth. This story provides a mythological rationale for the artificial preservation of the bodies of the dead. Osiris is usually depicted as a shrouded figure resembling a