Ancient Egypt Mummies

The ancient Egypt mummies have fascinated the modern world since Howard Carter uncovered the tomb of King Tut. When one takes the time to investigate the culture, beliefs and mythology of the ancient Egyptian world, it becomes quite apparent that the subject of death played a tremendous role in the everyday lives of Egyptian citizens.

Almost everywhere you turn; there is a reference to death and the afterlife in Egyptian cultures. Pyramids were reputedly built to guard the bodies of the dead; the Book of the Dead has become a Hollywood legend and an entire host of ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses each had a role the lives, deaths and afterlives of the Egyptian people. There is even a god dedicated solely to death. It is no great surprise that ancient Egypt mummies are just one part of a very complex culture dedicated to the subject of death.

The ancient Egyptian people took great care to insure that the bodies of their deceased would be well preserved for the afterlife. Simply placing a body inside a coffin and lowering into the ground was not sufficient for the ancient Egyptians, especially not for the royalty.

Egyptian Mummy Facts

The ancient Egyptian mummification process is quite lengthy; usually lasting seventy days and first begins by removing all the organs from within the body. The organs would be washed and dried, then placed inside containers known as canopic jars and eventually buried with the body. A salt mixture commonly found along the Nile River is most often used to aid in the drying process of both the body and the organs. The next step in the mummification process of ancient Egypt mummies involved wrapping the body using yards and yards of linen fabric. Some estimates indicate that the amount of yardage required for a single mummification amounted in the hundreds.

A number of funery rites and practices would be performed over ancient Egypt mummies, as well as the preparation of the tomb. In most cases, when a family was able to afford it, the body of a loved one would be placed in not one but several coffins. This was the situation when the tomb of King Tut was uncovered. The well preserved body of the 'Boy King' was found to be encased inside three coffins.

The ancient Egypt mummies have contributed more than a simple morbid fascination to our modern world. While it is quite certain the ancient Egyptians never intended the mummification ancient Egyptian mummies to have this side benefit; it cannot be denied that we have learned a great deal about this ancient culture through the well preserved bodies of ancient Egypt mummies.