Essay On Mummification

What is mummification? Mummification is designed to dry or shrivel up a dead body which turns into a mummy. This process is found in Egypt. It started about 2600 B.C., during the Fourth and Fifth Dynasties. Why, because mummification helps “preserve the remains of their ancestors” (“BURIAL PRACTICES, AFTERLIFE, & MUMMIES” 1). The way Egyptians handled the death of bodies were done in a very significant way. The bodies were placed in the tombs with their bodies straightened, but lying on their left side. At first, Egypt buried the bodies directly in the ground in a dry spot, curled up with simple pots or other goods.
“During the Dynastic Period, there were three basic types of tombs evolved: mastabas, rock-cut tombs, and pyramids” (“Life in Ancient Egypt” 1). However, if you were more financial you were buried in Mastabas. A simple mud-brick tombs, Arabic word meaning bench. Until, family members noticed the bodies had rotten from not being in the dried up ground. Finally, which is when the mummification was developed. Mummification was a trial and error process before it became successful. Around the time of the pyramids, embalmers were beginning to remove internal organs except the heart.
Then, the bodies were in Natron salt wrapped in linen or dried in the sun for four to five days. Sometimes, they were covered in plastic to cover the body to look like themselves. Then, “The body cavity was stuffed with resin, sawdust, or linen and shaped to restore the deceased's form and features” (“Life in Ancient Egypt” 1). Finally, the body was tightly wrapped in between the layers of linen with numerous good luck charms, and amulets. Although, the mummification was a trial and error process it still was pricey and not for everyone. Meaning, some still had to be buried the old fashioned way in the