Mummification
1- Another characteristic element in Egyptian civilization that has stimulated the interest of scholars was , without doubt , the unusual method of preserving corpses and transforming them into mummies , a
Technique that was believed to be divine in origin and was traced back to Horus , the son of Osiris and Isis
2- The tern ‘ Mummy ‘ derives from the Arab word “;Mumiya “ or “ Mumiyai “ which meant “ bitumen” or mixture of Pitch and Myrrh .
3- Preservation of the corpses , the principal reason would appear to be the extremely dry climate of Egypt and the total absence of bacteria in the air and the sand .
4- The Mummification of the bodies took place according to a quite precise and probably standardized , ritual , the body of the deceased was entrusted to the hands of specialists who began the embalming by using ….> hook ….
1- to extract the brain through the nostrils .
2- The skull was then filled with a mixture based on liquid bitumen which hardened as it cooled .
3- The eyes were removed and later replaced with enamelled orbs .
Using an extremely sharp stone , an incision was made on the left side of the body and viscera was extracted .
4- Only the heart was left in place .
After being treated with boiling bitumen, the stomach , liver , lungs and intestines were wrapped and then sealed in 4 canopic jars of clay , limestone, alabaster, other stones or metal , depending on social standing of the deadman .
5- The head depicted on the stoppers of each jar .
One human , one a jackel , one a hwak and one a baboon symbolized the 4 attendant spirits of the dead .
The jars were placed together in a single container near the mummy .
6- The internal cavities of the corpse were carefully washed with palm wine dried using a powder of aromatic plants and finally filled with ground myrrh or with perfumed wood sawdust .
7- Thus , prepared , the body was immersed in a bath of Natron “ natural sodium carbonate “ where it remained for 70 days at the end of this period ,
during which the flesh and muscles were completely dissolved in the Natron solution.
8- All that remained was the skin attached to the bones , the hair of the men was cut short while that of the women was left in all its splendid length.
9- At this point , the corpse was wrapped with narrow bindings impregnated with resin on the lower side, wrapping began with the separate fingers , then the hand and finally the arm , then the foot and leg and soon , work on the head was more meticulous.
10 – Another similar to muslin was used immediate contact with the skin .
11- The firgure was covered with several layers of bindings , which adhered so perfectly that if they had been removed in a piece , All aster cast made from them would have been an exact portrait of the deadman .
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