History Of Mummification

What is mummification? Mummification is design 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 was 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 their bodies directly in the ground in a dry spot curled up in a fetal position and interred with a few simple pots or other goods.” (“BURIAL PRACTICES, AFTERLIFE, & MUMMIES” 1).

“During the Dynastic Period, there were three basic types of tombs evolved: mastabas, rock-cut tombs, and pyramids” (“Life in 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

“First, you had to preserve the body to make a mummy; second, you had to protect the body inside of a tomb in which the name was inscribed; third, provide the dead with food, drink, or illustrations” (“Life in Ancient Egypt” 1). Also, to protect the spirits and spells of the deceased; pictures were drawn on the tombs based on the death of Osiris. Osiris, the God of the underworld, was the judgement of the deceased who shall have eternal life. If the person, had a decent life they shall live for eternal life says in “Book of the Dead”. “If dissatisfied, might return to haunt the living, and fulfill the obligations they had towards the dead, and also to take precautions” (“Funerary Practices”