Egyptian Mummies and Modern Science

Independent news email

---

Free download. Book file PDF easily for everyone and every device. You can download and read online Egyptian Mummies and Modern Science file PDF Book only if you are registered here. And also you can download or read online all Book PDF file that related with Egyptian Mummies and Modern Science book. Happy reading Egyptian Mummies and Modern Science Bookeveryone. Download file Free Book PDF Egyptian Mummies and Modern Science at Complete PDF Library. This Book have some digital formats such us :paperbook, ebook, kindle, epub, fb2 and another formats. Here is The CompletePDF Book Library. It's free to register here to get Book file PDF Egyptian Mummies and Modern Science Pocket Guide.

Egyptian mummies and modern science (Book, ) [giuliettasprint.konfer.eu]

Most of what scientists know about ancient Egyptian mummification comes from the Greek historian Herodotus, who lived during the fifth century B. First, embalmers would have removed the dead individual's organs — including the brain , which would be extracted through the nose.

Then, they would sterilize the chest and abdominal cavities, before placing the body in a salty fluid containing natron — a mixture of soda ash and sodium bicarbonate — which would drain the bodily fluids and prevent the body from rotting. Finally, they would swaddle the body in strips of linen and bury it in a tomb or grave.

Some studies have attempted to use these techniques to mummify animals or human organs, and there have been one or two attempts to mummify a complete human body.

But the process had never been studied using modern scientific techniques while the mummification was in progress. In this new study, Papageorgopoulou and her colleagues used the Egyptian salt-based preservation method to mummify the leg of a female human body that had been donated to the University of Zurich in Switzerland, where the experiment was conducted. For comparison, they also attempted to mummify a limb "naturally," using dry heat, but that attempt failed and was stopped after a week. The researchers took samples of the tissue every two to three days, and examined it using a variety of methods: the naked eye, a microscope, DNA analysis, and X-ray imaging methods.

The Science of Mummies

For the most part, the mummification was successful, but it took nearly seven months days , which is much longer than the two months the ancient Egyptian method took, according to Herodotus. Other accounts report that it took even less time. She suspects the cooler, damper conditions in the lab in Zurich, compared with the arid environment of ancient Egypt, may explain the discrepancy. The salt solution effectively removed the water from the leg tissue, which prevented bacteria and fungi from degrading it. The embalmers next removed all moisture from the body.

This they did by covering the body with natron, a type of salt which has great drying properties, and by placing additional natron packets inside the body. When the body had dried out completely, embalmers removed the internal packets and lightly washed the natron off the body. The result was a very dried-out but recognizable human form. To make the mummy seem even more life-like, sunken areas of the body were filled out with linen and other materials and false eyes were added.

Freely available

Next the wrapping began. Each mummy needed hundreds of yards of linen. The priests carefully wound the long strips of linen around the body, sometimes even wrapping each finger and toe separately before wrapping the entire hand or foot. In order to protect the dead from mishap, amulets were placed among the wrappings and prayers and magical words written on some of the linen strips. Often the priests placed a mask of the person's face between the layers of head bandages.

At several stages the form was coated with warm resin and the wrapping resumed once again. At last the priests wrapped the final cloth or shroud in place and secured it with linen strips. The mummy was complete. The priests preparing the mummy were not the only ones busy during this time.

Although the tomb preparation usually had begun long before the person's actual death, now there was a deadline, and craftsmen, workers, and artists worked quickly.

There was much to be placed in the tomb that a person would need in the Afterlife. Furniture and statuettes were readied; wall paintings of religious or daily scenes were prepared; and lists of food or prayers finished. Through a magical process, these models, pictures, and lists would become the real thing when needed in the Afterlife. Everything was now ready for the funeral.

As part of the funeral, priests performed special religious rites at the tomb's entrance. The most important part of the ceremony was called the "Opening of the Mouth".

Egyptian Mummies and Modern Science

A priest touched various parts of the mummy with a special instrument to "open" those parts of the body to the senses enjoyed in life and needed in the Afterlife. By touching the instrument to the mouth, the dead person could now speak and eat. He was now ready for his journey to the Afterlife. The mummy was placed in his coffin, or coffins, in the burial chamber and the entrance sealed up. Such elaborate burial practices might suggest that the Egyptians were preoccupied with thoughts of death. On the contrary, they began early to make plans for their death because of their great love of life.

Search Tips

They could think of no life better than the present, and they wanted to be sure it would continue after death. But why preserve the body? The Egyptians believed that the mummified body was the home for this soul or spirit.

If the body was destroyed, the spirit might be lost. The ka, a "double" of the person, would remain in the tomb and needed the offerings and objects there. The ba, or "soul", was free to fly out of the tomb and return to it. And it was the akh, perhaps translated as "spirit", which had to travel through the Underworld to the Final Judgment and entrance to the Afterlife. To the Egyptian, all three were essential. After death, the pharaohs of Egypt usually were mummified and buried in elaborate tombs.

Members of the nobility and officials also often received the same treatment, and occasionally, common people.

However, the process was an expensive one, beyond the means of many. For religious reasons, some animals were also mummified. The sacred bulls from the early dynasties had their own cemetery at Sakkara. Baboons, cats, birds, and crocodiles, which also had great religious significance, were sometimes mummified, especially in the later dynasties. Ancient writers, modern scientists, and the mummies themselves all help us better understand the Egyptian mummification process and the culture in which it existed.

• 1000 Plus Household Hints: Kitchen, Beauty, Garden, Interiors, Cooking, Health, Hygeine, Clothes, Jewellery, First-Aid & ...Many More
• Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa 1880–1995
• Transplantation of the Pancreas
• Financial Management: for the Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Industries
• Science and Exploration in the Pacific: European Voyages to the Southern Oceans in the Eighteenth Century
• Coffee Biotechnology and Quality: Proceedings of the 3rd International Seminar on Biotechnology in the Coffee Agro-Industry, Londrina, Brazil
• English and Celtic in Contact (Routledge Studies in Germanic Linguistics)