Mummification By: Griffin Darnutzer
Table of Contents Intro…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2 What was he Wrapping………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 2 How do they make Mummies…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2 What were Tombs like………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 2 What were Coffins/Mummy cases……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2-3 Glossary……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5
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The first layer was usually a shroud. Then each finger and toe was wrapped separately. After that, a long strip of linen was crossed over the head. Then a strap of linen was put under the head and knotted at the top to keep it up.
The ancient Egyptian mummification process took a very long time. They needed a tomb and a coffin. They needed wrapping linen and even had to mummify the body! It was a ginormous process. The main way that mummies were made was by wrapping and shrouding the body. The wrap was made out of linen. They used hundreds of yards of it to wrap a body! Linen was very valuable. It took about 15 days to wrap a body! Sometimes they wrapped around jewelry and amulets. They even individually wrapped each toe! Grossly, some butchers today use the linen from mummies to wrap meat that people buy to eat! Mummies were also wrapped in shrouds. Each shroud had to be long enough to knot at the top of the head. A rod was usually pushed up the nose into the brain. The bronze hooks or spoons helped with scooping out the brain.
There were lots of processes to make a mummy and they had to make tons of them. A big process was taking out the brain. They stuck a bronze hook up the nose to punch a hole in the skull to take the brain out the nose. The whole point of the mummification process was to make the person go to the afterlife. It was an expensive project. They put their organs, intestines, liver, and brain in canopic jars. They dried the body with natron to make sure it wouldn’t rot away. To keep the body from cracking they rubbed the skin with a mixture of ceder oil, wax, natron, and gum. The whole thing took about 70 days and drying out the body 40. They oiled the body then poured water on it to clean it. They put a mask on the face of the body. They made tons of mummies in ancient Egypt, and they each had lots of processes to make them. Tombs were for mummified bodies. Tombs were like mazes. They were often robbed for their gold and other valuables. Tomb robbers were sometimes the men who built the tombs. The thieves looked for gold jewels and other riches. To get in tombs the robbers poured vinegar on the limestone to make it crack. If tomb robbers were caught they would be impaled by wooden stakes. The Egyptians buried the body in things they would need for the afterlife. King Tut’s tomb was buried with limestone. There were figures made from gold in King Tut’s tomb. There were ladies hired to wail for the body at the funeral. There were lots of mummified bodies in tombs.
The Valley of the kings is a huge burial site for pharaohs.
Ancient Egyptians were buried in all kinds of coffin and mummy case styles. They usually made the coffins out of wood, but important and wealthy people had theirs made from gold. It depended on how wealthy you were on how many coffins you would get and what they were made from. Sometimes they painted gold on the coffins and rubbed it with 2
a smooth rock to make it shiny. You could have lots of coffins or cases to protect your mummy. Worst case scenario they wouldn’t have a coffin or case to protect the body. The cases were usually much bigger than the body. The cases protected the body from thieves and animals. They sometimes write spells on the cases for the afterlife. There is a legend that if they didn’t draw a face on the coffin or case the spirit wouldn’t be able to see into the afterlife. The case is also a home for the spirit from the body. There were lots of types of coffins and mummy cases in ancient Egypt. Now you learned about wrapping, how to make a mummy, what tombs were, and about coffins. It took lots steps and was a large and long process. That’s what mummification was like in ancient Egyptian time. The cases were also called sarcophagi.
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Glossary
Afterlife: Life after death. Canopic jars: Jars used in ancient Egypt to hold intestines, organs, liver, and the brain. Ceder oil: An oil that helps purify the body. Impaled: To be stabbed. Limestone: A rock made from ocean organisms. Linen: A type of cloth the Egyptians used to wrap mummies. Mummies: The dead bodies of a human being preserved by the ancient Egypt process. Natron: A salt to help dry the mummy. Shrouds: Large sheets of material that was thrown over the body like a cape. Tomb Robbers: robbers who stole from tombs. Tombs: A place to put the coffins for the afterlife.
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Bibliography (1997, August 25). Retrieved March 25, 2013, from Mummies of Ancient Egypt: www.amich.edu putnam, J. (2004). Mummy. New York: DK. Sloan, C. (2010). Mummies. Washington,DC: National Geographic. Stewart, D. (2001). You Wouldn't Want to be an Egyptian Mummy. New York: Scholastic.
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