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A mummy is a corpse whose skin and dried flesh have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or airlessness.
Types of mummiesThe best-known mummies are those that have been deliberately embalmed with the specific purpose of preservation, particularly those in ancient Egypt. Egyptian culture believed the body was home in the afterlife to a person's Ka, which without it would be condemned to eternal wandering. In Egypt, the bodies' abdomens were opened and all organs, except for the heart, were removed and preserved in Canopic jars. The brain, thought to be useless, was pulled out through the nose with hooks, then discarded.
In China, preserved corpses have been recovered from submerged cypress coffins packed with medicinal herbs. Naturally preserved mummiesMummies formed as a result of naturally-occurring environmental conditions, such as extreme cold (Ötzi the Iceman), acid (Tollund Man) or desiccating dryness, have been found all over the world. Some of the best-preserved mummies formed under natural conditions date from the Inca period in Peru. EtymologyThe English word mummy is derived from mediaeval Latin mumia, a borrowing of the Arabic word mūmiyyah (مومية), which means "bitumen". (Because of the blackened skin of unwrapped mummies, bitumen was once thought to be used extensively in ancient Egyptian embalming procedures. Asphalt and tar are forms of bitumen.) The Arabic word was itself borrowed from the Persian word mūmiya, meaning "bitumen"; this is related to another Persian word, mūm, which means "wax". (Ancient Greek historians record that the Persians sometimes mummified their kings and nobility in wax, though this practice has never been documented in Egypt; it has, however, been documented that the ancient Greeks created death masks from wax. Mummies in ancient EgyptImage:Mummy in Vatican.jpg Egyptian mummy kept in the Vatican Museums
MummificationAlthough mummification existed in other cultures, eternal life was the main focus of all Ancient Egyptians, which meant preserving the body forever. The earliest attempts therein were recorded in 3000 B.C. The technique used during this period was minimal and not yet mastered. The body would be sent to an embalming workshop, where embalmers would cut an opening in the abdomen of the body, and as time progressed, the organs were eventually removed (with the exception of the heart) and stored in canopic jars, allowing the body to be more well-preserved as it rested. Also, sometimes embalmers would break the bone behind the nose, and break the brain into little pieces and they would be pulled out via the nose. Then the embalmers would stuff the head with thick plant-based resin or plant resin sawdust. It also wasn’t until the Middle Kingdom that embalmers used natural salts to remove moisture from the body. The salt-like substance natron dried out and preserved more flesh than bone. Once dried, mummies were ritualistically anointed with oils and perfumes. The 21st Dynasty brought forth its most advanced skills in embalming and the mummification process reached its peak. Once preserved, the mummies were laid to rest inside a tomb, where it was believed that the mummy would rest eternally. Mummies in other civilizationsImage:The Thing 2.JPG A mummified body displayed in the British Museum. A number of other civilizations are known to have practiced the art of mummification.
Tarim mummiesMain article: Tarim mummies Mummies of an Indo-European type have been found in China's Tarim Basin, dating to as early as 1600 BC and suggesting very ancient contacts between the east and the west. It has been suggested that these mummified remains may have been the ancestors of the Tocharians whose Indo-European language remained in use in the Tarim Basin (Modern day Xinjiang in China) until the 8th century AD (see Silk Road: Tocharians). An ancient mummy dubbed the "handsome Yingpan man" was found in China's remote northwest province of Xinjiang. Archaeologists from the Xinjiang Archeological Institute found the mummified body when they opened a coffin in a graveyard dating back 1,900 years, according to Xinhua news agency. The mummy had thick brown hair, a shrunken face and body, and grey and brown skin. Its beard, eyebrows and eyelashes were clearly discernible and its clothes were intact and retained their bright colour. The mummified man, believed to have lived during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD), was 1.8 metres (nearly six feet) tall and might have died at about 25 years of age. His coffin, which had colorful paintings on the outside, was discovered together with over 150 ancient tombs dating back to the Eastern Han Dynasty at Yingpan near Lop Nur in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. This coffin along with five others had been shipped to Urumqi, the regional capital, and were kept in the institute, unopened, for three years. The mummy is believed to be significant for the study of economic and cultural exchanges between China and Western countries in ancient times. The "handsome Yingpan man" is thought to be comparable to the "beautiful Loulan woman," a 3,800-year-old female mummy discovered in 1980 at the Tiebanhe Delta, about 200 kilometres east of Yingpan, said the report. Loulan was an ancient kingdom along China's Silk Road in Xinjiang, about 200 kilometres east of Yingpan. Natural mummiesNatural mummification is fairly rare, requiring specific conditions to occur, but it has produced some of the oldest known mummies. The most famous ancient mummy is Ötzi the Iceman, frozen in a glacier in the Ötztal Alps around 3300 BC and found in 1991. An even older but less well-preserved mummy was found in Spirit Cave, Nevada in 1940 and carbon-dated to around 7400 BC. The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark have all produced a number of bog bodies, mummies of people deposited in sphagnum bogs, apparently as a result of murder or ritual sacrifices. In such cases, the acidity of the water, cold temperature and lack of oxygen combined to tan the body's skin and soft tissues. The skeleton typically disintegrates over time. Such mummies are remarkably well-preserved, with skin and internal organs surviving; it is even possible to determine what their last meal was by examining their stomach contents. In 1972, eight remarkably preserved mummies were discovered at an abandoned Inuit settlement called Qilakitsoq, in Greenland. The "Greenland Mummies" consisted of a six-month old baby, a four year old boy, and six women of various ages, who died around 500 years ago. Their bodies were naturally mummified by the sub-zero temperatures and dry winds in the cave in which they were found.[1] Some of the best-preserved mummies date from the Inca period in Peru some 500 years ago, where children were ritually sacrificed and placed on the summits of mountains in the Andes. Also found in this area are the Chinchorro mummies, which are among the oldest mummified bodies ever found. The cold, dry climate had the effect of desiccating the corpses and preserving them intact. In the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, mummies were discovered in a cemetery of a city named Guanajuato northwest of Mexico City (near Léon). They are accidental modern mummies and were literally "dug up" between the years 1896 and 1958 when a local law required relatives of the deceased to pay a kind of grave tax. The Guanajuato mummies are on display in the Museo de las momias, high on a hill overlooking the city. Further spontaneously mummified bodies belonging to priests and lay dignitaries can be found in Sicily, Italy, and date from the 16th Century up to the beginning of the 20th Century AD.[citation needed] Mummies in recent timesImage:Jbentham.600px.jpg The "auto-icon" of Jeremy Bentham at University College London Mummies have been an object of intense interest in the West since archaeologists began finding them in large numbers. 19th-century aristocrats would occasionally entertain themselves by purchasing mummies, having them unwrapped, and holding observation sessions. Mummy heads were sold as souvenirs and displayed in homes during the 19th-century.[citation needed] On occasion a tea would be made from the wrappings.[citation needed] These sessions destroyed hundreds of mummies, because the exposure to the air caused them to disintegrate. In the 1830s, Jeremy Bentham, the founder of utilitarianism, left instructions to be followed upon his death which led to the creation of a sort of modern-day mummy. He asked that his body be displayed to illustrate how the "horror at dissection originates in ignorance"; once so displayed and lectured about, he asked that his body parts be preserved, including his skeleton (minus his skull, for which he had other plans), which were to be dressed in the clothes he usually wore and "seated in a Chair usually occupied by me when living in the attitude in which I am sitting when engaged in thought." His body, outfitted with a wax head created because of problems preparing it as Bentham requested, is on open display in the University College London. Egyptian mummies were much sought-after by museums worldwide in the 19th and early 20th centuries and many exhibit mummies today. Notably fine examples are exhibited at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, at the Ägyptisches Museum in Berlin, and at the British Museum in London. The Egyptian city of Luxor is also home to a specialised Mummification Museum. The mummified remains of what turned out to be Ramesses I ended up in a "Daredevil Museum" near Niagara Falls on the United States–Canada border; records indicate that it had been sold to a Canadian in 1860 and exhibited alongside displays such as a two-headed calf for nearly 140 years, until a museum in Atlanta, Georgia, which had acquired the mummy along with other artifacts, determined it to be royal and returned it to Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. It is currently on display in the Luxor Museum. Image:Mummy at British Museum.jpg Mummy in the British Museum Mummies were also believed to have medicinal properties (see Mellified Man), and were sold as pharmaceuticals in powdered form. An urban myth of mummies being used as fuel for locomotives was popularized by Mark Twain, but the truth of the story remains a debate. During the First World War, mummy-wrapping linens were manufactured into paper[citation needed]. Science has also taken interest in mummies. Dr. Bob Brier, an Egyptologist, has been the first modern scientist to successfully recreate a mummy using the ancient Egyptian method. Mummies have been used in medicine to calibrate CAT scan machines at levels of radiation that would be too dangerous for use on living people. In fact, mummies can be studied without unwrapping them using CAT scan and X-ray machines to form a digital image of what's inside. They have been very useful to biologists and anthropologists, as they have provided a wealth of information about the health and life expectancy of ancient peoples. In particular, mummies have demonstrated that even 5,000 years ago, humans were anatomically indistinguishable from their present-day counterparts. This has had important repercussions in the study of human evolution. Scientists interested in cloning the DNA of mummies have recently reported findings of clonable DNA in an Egyptian mummy dating to circa 400 BC. Although analysis of the hair of Ancient Egyptian mummies from the Late Middle Kingdom has revealed evidence of a stable diet [1], Ancient Egyptian mummies from circa 3200 BC show signs of severe anaemia and hemolitic disorders [2]. Artists also made use of mummies during the late 1800s, in the form of paint. The brownish paint was called "Caput Mortum", Latin for "Dead Head", and made from the wrappings of mummies. In March 2006, the body of the Greek Orthodox Monk Vissarion Korkoliacos was found intact in his tomb, after fifteen years in grave. The event has led to a dispute between those who believe the preservation to be a miracle and those who claimed the possibility of natural mummification. Modern MummiesImage:Cat Mummification by Summum.jpg A cat being mummified by Summum SummumIn 1975, an esoteric organization by the name of Summum introduced "Modern Mummification," a form of mummification that Summum claims uses modern techniques along with aspects of ancient methods. The service is available for spiritual reasons. Summum considers animals and people to have an essence that continues following the death of the body, and their mummification process is meant to preserve the body as a means to aid the essence as it transitions to a new destination. Summum calls this "transference," and the concept seems to correlate with ancient Egyptian reasons for mummification. Rather than using a dehydration process that is typical of ancient mummies, Summum uses a chemical process that is supposed to maintain the body's natural look. The process includes leaving the body submerged in a tank of preservation fluid for several months. Summum claims its process preserves the body so well that the DNA will remain intact far into the future, leaving open the possibility for cloning should science perfect the technique on humans. According to news stories[citation needed], Summum has mummified numerous pets such as birds, cats, and dogs. People were mummified early on when Summum developed its process and many have made personal, "pre-need" arrangements. Summum has been included in television programs by National Geographic and the British Broadcasting Corporation, and is also discussed in the book The Scientific Study of Mummies by Arthur C. Aufderheide. PlastinationPlastination is a technique used in anatomy to conserve bodies or body parts. The water and fat are replaced by certain plastics, yielding specimens that can be touched, do not smell or decay, and even retain most microscopic properties of the original sample. The technique was invented by Gunther von Hagens when working at the anatomical institute of the University of Heidelberg in 1978. Von Hagens has patented the technique in several countries and is heavily involved in its promotion, especially with his travelling exhibition Body Worlds, exhibiting plastinated human bodies internationally. He also founded and directs the Institute for Plastination in Heidelberg. Mummies in fictionDuring the 20th century, horror films and other mass media popularized the notion of a curse associated with mummies. Films representing such a belief include the 1932 film The Mummy starring Boris Karloff as Imhotep; four subsequent 1940's Universal Studios mummy films which featured a mummy named Kharis, who also was the title mummy in a 1959 Hammer version; and a remake of the original film that was released in 1999. The belief in cursed mummies probably stems in part from the supposed curse on the tomb of Tutankhamun. Mummies are commonly featured in fantasy genres as an undead creature. Mummy is Monster in My Pocket #41. He is associated with the good monsters. Dark Magic Priest Meemy of Mahou Sentai Magiranger is based on the classic concept of reanimated mummies in horror films; Meemy's Power Rangers: Mystic Force counterpart is Imperious. Because "mum" is common English slang for "mother", the coincidental connection to this word is sometimes exploited for humour, as with The Three Stooges 1939 short, We Want Our Mummy, in which the boys search for the tomb of the fictional Egyptian Pharaoh, "King Rutentuten". Famous mummiesImage:Rammumy.jpg Mummy of Pharaoh Ramesses II From EgyptOthers
See also
Notes
ReferencesBooks
Online* "The Mummy Makers", Edit International, 2003-2004. Retrieved on May 28, 2006.
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