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The Mummification Process

Life has many unanswered questions. One of those questions concerns death. Mummification in Africa is  a very thorough. There are a lot of steps to make someone basically never rot completely. This all started a long time ago and may or may not have been on purpose. These mummies went through steps in the afterlife so they could be reborn again.

    Life has many unanswered questions. Life has many questions. One of those questions concerns death.  Cultures around the world have different beliefs about what happens after death.  One such belief is that the dead could be preserved after death by mummifying the dead so that the individual could exist successfully in an afterlife.  While Mummification occurs around the world, the place most people think of when they think of mummies is Egypt.

     In the video “ Egypt beyond the Pyramids Part 4 2:1,” mummification is discussed and it really shows how people went through the process. The director wanted us to come to the conclusion that people believed in afterlife and they mummified them so that they could be peaceful in the afterlife. I also think the director wants us to understand how the people back in 2600 B.C mummified people. The documentary began with a man in the tomb of a man that had been mummified a long time ago. The man that was in the tomb was a pharaoh. The documentary ended with showing us how the people would put stones or glass balls in people eye sockets so it would seem like the mummy was still awake and alive. It also showed the people who would perform the mummification process. This would be a priest. The priest would wear a mask with the face of the god Anubis. Anubis was the god of embalming the dead. I think the film ended this way because they wanted to show you that pharaohs were treated differently in the mummification process than the other people. The message that was perceived in documentary is how people went through the mummification process and when it happened. The director showed this through research and additional data.

    Mummification is a process of which the skin and flesh of a body are preserved. This can happen naturally or in some cases it happens unintentionally. Bodies can be preserved by using things like chemicals and linen. These things together can preserve a body for hundreds if not thousands of years. People mummify bodies in hopes that the people with find rest and follow the steps to get to afterlife. Before chemicals and linen people would preserve bodies with the hot and dry climates in places like Egypt. They would do this by putting people in pits and filling them with sand. Around 2600 B.C they started removing peoples brains and organs. They would place these in special jars near the dead bodies. Pharaohs got the best mummification out of everyone because they were the head of the people. In fact the Pharaohs had such a complicated process of mummification it took 40 days for the whole entire process to happen. They also painted stones when the people eyes would fall out so it would look like the people were still alive and or sleeping with their eyes open. The people that would do these procedures were priests and they would wear the mask of the god Anubis. Anubis was a god of embalming the dead.

    In the video “ The Mummification Process” a women describes what a person goes through to become a mummy. This video has all of the steps of mummification in order from the very first step to last. In this video it shows you how people are truly mummified. Another thing that the video said was that the people who would perform the mummification would take out the people intestines and all of the things like that. A few other things that they said were they would put salt on the body to suck all of the moisture out of the glans and then they would start the mummifying.  They would put a mysterious pouch on the chest of the body. They don’t know why but they do it anyway. This video makes sure you understand the process after you are done watching it.

    A lot of people think of mummies when they hear the word Egypt, but they may not have been the first people to mummify.The first Gebelein Mummy Of Predynastic Egypt was made around 3600 B.C and 3700 B.C. The first mummy ever made was made a long time ago. His name was Uan Muhuggiag. He got his name from the cave he was found in. It had the exact same name. The black mummy was found from 1958-1959 by a man named Fabrizio Mori in Libya. The black mummy was intentional, but no one really knows why the boy was rapped in linen and covered in the chemicals he was. The parents were the first ever to mummify anyone on Earth. Mummies were said to have been originated from Egypt, but others say they originated in Africa. “The mummy is associated with the legends of Egypt, but archaeologists have excavated preserved human remains the world over. Dr Joann Fletcher explores the fascinating and varied history of mummification across continents, says BBCs author.”

    I learned a lot of things during this project. The websites and videos we watched had a wide variety. During the studies of mummies my research has come to show me that people are mummified in order for them to start a path into the afterlife and then be reborn into a new life. This basically is saying that the people want to be immortal. Some of the things that you will learn from watching the video “Egypt beyond the Pyramids” is that mummification is a tough process that has developed throughout the years from being an accidental thing to becoming purposeful and using chemicals to save flesh and skin. While I was researching this topic there were many websites that were not credible. They were plagiarized or just took credit for themselves. So you have to go over many websites and check all of their links for credibility. Overall there are many questions that haven’t been answered over the topic of mummification, but we are answering them fast that is for sure.

Works Cited

Fletcher, Dr Joann. "History - Ancient History in Depth: Mummies Around the World." BBC. BBC, 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 09 Mar. 2018.

Gannon, Megan. "Oldest Evidence for Egyptian Mummy Making Discovered."LiveScience. Purch, 13 Aug. 2014. Web. 15 Feb. 2018.

Gettymuseum. "The Mummification Process." YouTube. YouTube, 18 Aug. 2009. Web. 09 Mar. 2018.