PLANNING
PARAGRAPHS Grade 6
Organize your information in an
outline here to learn about mummies. Use the outline below to guide you in writing at
least a 3-paragraph report on mummification. Use
the blanks to fill in facts, not sentences. Then you will use your facts to
create a report.
You may introduce your report with this
sentence, or write your own:Mummification of bodies in ancient Egypt was a
very important part of their culture.
Suggested main ideas:
MUMMIFICATION
I. Main Idea
IV. Main Idea
Create your report below.
A
mummy is a dead body or corpse that has been preserved so that it does not
rot or decay. The process of preserving the body is called mummification.
The Egyptians were extremely interested in mummification because they
believed that the dead would need their bodies in the afterlife. They did
not believe that death was final. Instead, they viewed it as a time coming
before the afterlife. They also believed that everlasting life could be
ensured by being respectful to the gods, by mummifying the dead, and by
providing equipment in tombs for the afterlife. They believed that each
person had a life-force or ka, (a word that cannot be translated into
English), that continued to live after a person died. It was important to
preserve the body so that the ka could still recognize it. The ka needed
to return to the body because it still needed food to keep living. Food
offerings were left in the tombs which the ka would inhale and the priests
would then eat. The
process of mummification involved cleaning the body, inside and out. The
organs and intestines had to be removed before the body could be
preserved. Using one method, the brain was removed through the nose with
an iron hook and the other organs and the intestines were taken out
through a cut made in the side of the body. Then the inside of the body
was cleaned and the cut was sewn up again. The removed liver, lungs,
stomach, and intestines were placed in containers called canopic jars
which were placed inside the body or with the body in the tomb. Some of
these jars had stoppers shaped like human or animal heads representing
gods. It was believed that these gods would ward off evil forces. A
natural substance called natron was used to preserve the body. The corpse
was covered with natron for seventy days, then rinsed and washed again,
and finally wrapped in several meters of linen bandages. After this
process was completed the mummy was placed in a wooden coffin shaped like
either a box or a person.
The
Egyptians believed that one of their most important gods, Osiris, the god
of death and rebirth, was the first to be mummified. Therefore, the people
that watched over the process of mummification were priests.
The
earliest Egyptian graves consisted of a shallow pit in the sand, with the
dead body laid inside in a curled position. Although the person was buried
without clothes, some of their prized possessions- stuff like weapons,
hunting supplies, and toys- were placed in the burial pit with them. The
people of ancient Egypt believed that upon death, a person's soul split
into several parts, and continued to live on in an afterlife. Therefore,
these favorite items would still be needed!
Because
they were buried in the blistering hot sand under the scorching desert
sun, the dead were naturally preserved by rapid drying before they could
decay. When a living thing dies, bacteria breaks down the body, recycling
it back to the earth. But without sufficient moisture, bacteria is unable
to do its job. Instead, a mummy is born!
Somehow
the Egyptians caught on to what was happening a few feet below the desert
sand, most likely after catching jackals in the act of digging up human
remains to eat. Seeing the dried bodies was great news because in some
mysterious way, their dead relatives seemed to still be living! The
ancient Egyptians saw these naturally-made mummies as proof of an eternal
afterlife.
Dead
kings and queens (and anyone else wealthy enough to afford it!) were given
even better accommodations. Instead of being buried without clothes, they
were wrapped in linen, which is a type of cloth made from the flax plant.
To protect the body even further, the linen was coated with melted resin
(a very sticky plant extract) which created a water proof, varnish-like
seal around the body after it hardened.
A
coffin was provided as yet another layer of protection, and the dead
person was placed inside it with their jewels and treasures and then
buried safely away in a grave much deeper than usual. The Egyptians must
have been very pleased with their handiwork. No jackals would be able to
reach a body wrapped in linen, coated with resin, locked in a coffin, and
buried extra deep!
However,
these more elaborate burials were disasters, not improvements! Since the
coffin and the coating of resin and linen kept the hot dry sand away from
the corpse, the bodies decayed from within instead of becoming mummified.
The Egyptians probably realized this after finding graves that had been
disturbed by grave robbers- thieves who would hack through the
resin-hardened linen with an axe in order to steal the jewels placed on
the body. All that remained inside the bandages were bones... not a
mummy!
The
Egyptians had a huge problem. They desired elaborate burials, with linen
and resin and coffins far underground- but also wanted to preserve the
body as a symbol of eternal life. They figured that if the body wasn't
able to live forever, neither could the parts of the soul... and that
would mean no afterlife.
It
was therefore absolutely necessary to prevent the dead body from decaying,
since the parts of the soul still had a need for it. Three of the more
well-known forms of the spirit were the ba, the ka, and the akh.
It was believed that the ram-headed creator god Khnum sculpted babies and
all the parts of their souls from clay.
The
ba was the personality. It was shown as a bird with a human head- in
particular, the head of the person to which it belonged. The ka was the
life force, like our modern definition of a soul, and it looked exactly
like its person. Sometimes a statue modeled after the deceased would be
placed in the tomb with the mummy. These "ka statues" were
something of an emergency back-up, to make sure the ka had a substitute
body in case something should happen to the mummy. In addition to a
recognizable body, the ka also needed food to survive. When Egyptians left
food and water at the tomb, they were leaving it for the ka. The akh was
represented by a type of bird called a crested ibis. At death, the akh
flew to the stars to spend eternity in the heavens.
The
mummification process
Eventually,
someone realized that the trick for having deep elaborate burials but
still maintaining a recognizable body was to preserve the dead before
burial. They experimented with different techniques and finally discovered
a method of mummification that was so effective that many of their mummies
are still wonderfully preserved today!
Making
mummies turned out to be not so complicated after all- the Egyptians
simply intentionally dried the bodies first, then added the linen,
resin, coffins, and deep tombs.
The
entire process of mummification took 70 days to complete. Several
embalmers conducted the task in the special embalming shop or per
nefer. The chief embalmer was known as the hery seshta. He wore
a jackal mask to represent Anubis, the god of mummification. Assistants
called wetyw bandaged the body and carried out other tasks of the
embalming process.
After
being delivered to the per nefer, the first task that needed to be done
was to remove the soft, moist body parts that would cause decay. One of
the embalmers would use a knife to make an incision in the left side of
the abdomen. Although this step was entirely necessary to remove the
organs, they didn't like it because it was considered sinful to
"injure" a corpse. The other embalmers present would curse and
throw stones at the man who made the cut. They weren't really trying to
hurt him, it was all just a symbolic part of the ceremony.
The
stomach, intestines, liver, and lungs were removed and preserved by drying
them in a special salt called natron. Natron is chemically similar
to a mixture of table salt and baking soda. Originally dissolved in the
ground water, it is found in clumps by oases where it gets left behind
when water evaporates.
Once
thoroughly dried, the organs would be put into separate containers called canopic
jars. The Egyptians believed that all body parts would be magically
reunited in the afterlife and the body would become whole again, just like
the god Osiris. According to Egyptian mythology, the god Osiris was
murdered by his jealous brother Set and hacked into pieces. The goddess
Isis reassembled the pieces and Osiris was magically restored, and went on
to become the god of the afterlife.
The
stoppers of canopic jars were shaped like the heads of the four sons of
the god Horus. Each son protected the organ placed inside his respective
jar. Duamutef, who had the head of a jackal, guarded the jar that
contained the stomach. Qebehsenuf, who had the head of a falcon, watched
over the intestines. Hapi, the baboon-headed son of Horus, protected the
lungs, while human-headed Imseti was in charge of protecting the liver.
Canopic jars were usually stored in a chest that was later placed in the
tomb with the mummy.
After
all the organs were removed, the body was washed with wine and rubbed with
spices. The alcohol in the wine acted as an antiseptic, helping to kill
bacteria. The corpse was then covered with natron for 40 days to dry out.
Once dried, the skin was shrunken, wrinkled, and leathery. The mummy was
cleaned one more time and rubbed with sacred oils to soften the skin.
In
one Egyptian myth, the god Horus had his eye miraculously restored after
losing it in a battle with the evil god Set. The Eye of Horus, called a
wedjat, is associated with healing and protection. A wax or bronze plate
with a wedjat carved on it was placed over the embalming incision to
magically heal the gash in the afterlife.
Small
magical amulets were inserted between the layers of the bandages to
further protect the mummy's spirit on its way to the afterlife. As each
layer was added, it was coated with resin to hold the wrappings together
with a waterproof seal.
