Article on mummification

[sivaroobini]

While explaining some stuff about Anubis to a friend, I dredged up an article I'd written in my first semester at uni (early 2012) for a Science Communications assignment, where you had to explain some sort of scientific process clearly and simply for a target audience who knew nothing of your subject. As the lone ancient history student in a class full of science majors (it was a broadening unit for me), I decided to write about the mummification process. And upon rereading it just now I decided I was actually pretty proud of it, so I'm posting it here.

Remember, it was a uni assignment (I had to deal with word limits and stuff) and written over a year ago, so if you think anything needs to be changed or dislike any part of it, or want more information, please let me know. XD

The Mummy: The Prequel

 

One of the most ubiquitous images associated with Ancient Egypt is that of the bandaged mummy in its elaborate sarcophagus (stone/metal/wooden coffin). Another famous image is the beautiful golden funerary mask of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, and perhaps the two most famous mummies themselves are those of the astonishingly well-preserved Pharaohs Seti I and Ramesses II. Mummies are the most famous symbol of Ancient Egypt and ancient scientific knowledge, and the mummification process remains a source of fascination to Egyptologists today.

  First, we must ask: why this obsession with preservation and mummification, with death and eternal life? The answer lies in the Egyptian myth of Osiris, king of the dead. Osiris, son of the earth (Geb) and the sky (Nut), was king of Egypt, ruling with kindness and educating the ancient Egyptians. His jealous younger brother Set murdered him, dismembered his body, scattered the pieces across Egypt and usurped the throne. Osiris’s sister-wife Isis, however, located the pieces of her husband, gathered them together and mummified the body, thus restoring him to life. Instead of returning to earth, though, Osiris became the eternal ruler of the world of the dead, the Netherworld or Duat. Hence, the dead in general were identified with Osiris, attaining eternal life through mummification and funerary rites. The preservation of the body was also essential because Egyptians believed that the soul (ba), depicted as a small bird with a human head, visited the world of the living during daytime but returned to the tomb at sunset. Meanwhile the life-force (ka) remained in the tomb with the deceased’s body, nourished with a constant supply of offerings.

  So much for the religion behind it; let us examine the process of mummification during the New Kingdom, the best-known method. It was carried out in a special workshop called the ‘place of purification’ by embalmers taking the roles of the gods who had helped Isis embalm Osiris, led by Anubis, the jackal-headed guardian of the dead. First the body was washed with Nile water. Next, a passage was chiselled through the left nostril and ethmoid bone (a bone located at the roof of the nose that separates the nasal cavity from the brain) into the cranial cavity and a hooked metal rod inserted to shred the brain, reducing it to fragments which were then removed with a spatula. Then an incision was made in the left flank and the liver, lungs, stomach and intestines removed. The heart was always left in place since the ancient Egyptians considered it, not the brain, the seat of intelligence, and since it was needed in their judgment ceremonies in the afterlife. Removed organs were placed in Canopic jars: four rounded jars with lids shaped like the heads of a jackal, a baboon, a human and a falcon respectively, after Horus’s four sons.

  Next, the body was immersed up to the neck in a large jar containing a natron salt solution, with the exposed head coated in resin, for several days. After this the body was removed, straightened out, washed, packed with linen (to preserve its features, as the mummification process had reduced it to little more than skin, muscles and bone and the organs had been removed), dried out further and treated with resin paste, natron salt and animal fat. Next, it was further packed with linen and spices. Amulets were placed at various points on the body; one of the most important was a scarab, symbolising renewed life, placed over the heart to stimulate the rebirth into eternal life. Afterwards the mummy was wrapped in several layers of linen bandages, with fingers and toes individually wrapped; after several layers the arms were arranged by the side of the body or crossed over the chest, and then the mummy was wrapped as a whole while priests recited prayers. Finally came the Opening of the Mouth and Eyes, where priests touched the mummy’s mouth and eyes (or those of the funerary mask, or the image of the deceased’s face on the sarcophagus lid) with ritual instruments to enable the spirit to eat, drink, breathe, and see.

  Observing these rites got the deceased’s soul to the Hall of Judgment in the Underworld; it also preserved the scientific knowledge and bodies of the Ancient Egyptians for us, allowing us to learn more about them and even perform post-mortem examinations. Thus, the Egyptians have in a way attained their goal of eternal life.

 

 

Dawson, W.R. (1927). Making a Mummy. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 13 (1), 40-49.

Hamlyn, P. (1965) Egyptian Mythology London: Westbrook House

University College London (2000) Digital Egypt for Universities

Retrieved from: http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/Welcome.html

Wallis Budge, E.A. (1895) ed. Baldock J. (2011) The Egyptian Book of the Dead London: Arcturus Publishing.