If you have a sensitive constitution or are eating right now, I would highly recommend you come back and read later. This blog will be a little gross.
This sounds familiar. I may have learned this in elementary school, or it could have been one of those random facts that kids throw out there in an attempt to gross out their buddies. A nature lover and former veterinarian student, I am not grossed out by much. But is this actually true? And how would the Egyptians go about doing this?
Yes, this one is true. To learn more, I checked out the site http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk. This website has a step-by-step walk-through of how the mummification process took place. So here is what I learned...
Ancient Egyptians first simply buried their dead in small pits out in the desert. The hot, dry sand naturally dehydrated the bodies, creating some of the first mummies. As civilization grew, the Egyptians began an actual embalming process before wrapping and burying the body. The embalming, in a nutshell, worked something like this:
1. The body was taken to a special tent known as the 'ibu' or 'place of purification.'
2. The embalmers would wash the body with a palm wine and rinse it with Nile River water.
3. One worker would cut a slice in the left side of the body. Workers then removed the internal organs, as they decompose quickly. The heart was left in place, as it was believed the dead needed it in the afterlife.
4. A long hook was inserted through the nose to smash the brain and pull it out. This would be tricky, although the brain is a very similar consistency to gelatin. That's right, your Jell-O snack and your brain are about the same gooey-ness.
5. The body would then be stuffed with a material called natron, which will dry the body out. All fluids and materials used to clean the body will be buried with it.
6. The body sits for forty days before it is washed again with Nile water and covered in oils to keep the skin elastic.
7. The now dehydrated internal organs are wrapped in linen and returned to the body.
8. Workers then stuff the body full of dry materials, such as sawdust, to help the body appear more lifelike.
9. More good-smelling oils are applied to the body. The body is now ready to be wrapped.
The result of the embalming and wrapping process can be hard to imagine. I would guess it would look somewhat lifelike. Obviously preserving a body has improved over the thousands of years since the Ancient Egyptians created their mummies. However the process is quite impressive. Not many ancient civilizations left us with so much evidence of their lives, however creepy it may look:
This is an actual Egyptian mummy (older woman I believe) that I saw at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science back in May of 2013. Kinda creepy and gross for sure, but also kind of cool.
Our world hosts (and has hosted) so many different civilizations since its birth. The people of today we can experience through art, music, food, and/or travel. The peoples of the past...we are largely stuck with stories and the artifacts they have left behind. No matter how weird, disgusting, or bizarre those artifacts may be, they all have something to teach us.
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