1. The brain was pulled out through the nose using hooks. The liver, intestines, stomach and the lungs were pulled out through an incision in the side of the mummy. The brain was considered "unimportant" so was usually thrown out. The other four organs were kept in jars. They had special symbols on the jars. They were: Hapy, the Baboon which held the lungs; Duamutef, the jackal which held the stomach; Aebehsenuef, the falcon, which held the intestines; and Imsety, the human head, which held the liver. These were all known as the sons of Horus. These heads were used at about 1500 BC in 2000 BC they usually used the dead person's head, and after that in 1000 BC they would just wrap the organs and put them back in the body. Even then, these jars were still kept in the tomb.
2. After these organs were taken out, they would cleanse the body in a special liquid to help preserve the skin. Then they would have to wait 40 days for the body to dry. Mummies were then stuffed with linen, along with sand and sawdust, to give them form. After this was done, they would start to wrap the body.
3. Even though the wrapping may seem the easiest, it wasn't. They would usually use linen or shrouds which are large sheets of material that were thrown over the body like a cape. The shroud had to be large enough to tie a knot behind the head and also under the feet. On one mummy, scientists counted 20 alternating layers of bandages of linen and shrouds! After the shroud was put on, they had to wrap every finger and toe separately. Then a strip of long linen that began at the right shoulder was crisscrossed over the head. The bandages were wrapped very tightly to keep the distinct figure of the mummy. Sometimes they would use protective amulets or the dead person's jewelry in between some of the layers. They also had to apply a sticky liquid called resin in between each layer to keep the bandages together and slowly stiffen the body. About 15 days were set aside for this wrapping and it was accompanied by lots of prayer and ritual.
2. After these organs were taken out, they would cleanse the body in a special liquid to help preserve the skin. Then they would have to wait 40 days for the body to dry. Mummies were then stuffed with linen, along with sand and sawdust, to give them form. After this was done, they would start to wrap the body.
3. Even though the wrapping may seem the easiest, it wasn't. They would usually use linen or shrouds which are large sheets of material that were thrown over the body like a cape. The shroud had to be large enough to tie a knot behind the head and also under the feet. On one mummy, scientists counted 20 alternating layers of bandages of linen and shrouds! After the shroud was put on, they had to wrap every finger and toe separately. Then a strip of long linen that began at the right shoulder was crisscrossed over the head. The bandages were wrapped very tightly to keep the distinct figure of the mummy. Sometimes they would use protective amulets or the dead person's jewelry in between some of the layers. They also had to apply a sticky liquid called resin in between each layer to keep the bandages together and slowly stiffen the body. About 15 days were set aside for this wrapping and it was accompanied by lots of prayer and ritual.
For almost 500 years, people in Europe used a black powder made from mumiya to help them get better when they were sick. Mumiya is a black gooey tar that forms in the ground in certain places in the world. Some people made a mistake and thought that mumiya was black stuff found on mummies. So people started to grind mummies into a powder. They would sell the powder as mumiya even though mumiya was hardly ever used on mummies. They ground up the mummies into a dust and sold it as Mummy Powder all over Europe. People used the mummy powder as medicine when they got sick. Even as late as 1972, there were books for doctors that listed mummy powder.
No comments:
Post a Comment