Mummy is a body that has been preserved through natural or artificial means. The most famous and elaborately prepared mummies are from Egypt. The ancient Egyptians mummified their dead because they believed the body had to be preserved for use in the afterlife. The word mummy comes from the Persian word mummia. The word refers to bitumen, a black, tarlike substance that was used to prepare some Egyptian mummies. Many museums display Egyptian mummies. The most famous mummies are probably those of Ramses II and Tutankhamun, who were pharaohs (rulers) of ancient Egypt.
Egyptian mummies.
Egyptian embalmers prepared mummies by dehydrating (removing all moisture from) the body. The earliest Egyptian mummies were naturally preserved by being buried in hot, dry, desert sand. Around 4000 B.C., the Egyptians were experimenting with resin and linen wrappings to seal the body against moisture.
By about 3500 B.C., the Egyptians had developed an elaborate process of preparing mummies. Ancient texts indicate that the process took 70 days to complete. In this process, the stomach, liver, lungs, and intestines were removed from the body through an incision on the left side of the abdomen. The heart, which the Egyptians considered the center of reasoning, was usually left in place. In some cases, embalmers removed the brain with a hook through a hole pierced through the nose.
The body and organs were covered with natron, a powdery mixture of salt and sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate. This substance acted to draw moisture out of the body tissues. After the body was dried, it was treated with perfumes and resins that helped seal out moisture. The body could be stuffed with straw, linen, moss, or other material to give it a more lifelike appearance. The body was then wrapped in a great number of linen bandages. Mummies were usually placed in a coffin or a series of coffins, one inside the other. The coffins were made of wood or stone and, in some periods, they were often shaped like the mummy and decorated. Mummies in their coffins were buried in underground tombs. The internal organs were usually placed in the tomb in separate containers called canopic jars.
The Greek historian Herodotus described Egyptian techniques of mummy preparation in the 400’s B.C. Wealthy people could afford more elaborately prepared mummies than the poor could. The ancient Egyptians also mummified animals, including baboons, cats, jackals, and rams, which were associated with various Egyptian gods and cults. Pet cats and dogs were sometimes mummified as well. The ancient Egyptians practiced mummification until about A.D. 300, when it was replaced by simple burials following the introduction of Christianity.
Loading the player...How ancient Egyptians made a mummy
Other mummies.
Mummies were also made in other parts of the world. In China, some bodies were preserved using mercury salts. Among the Inca of South America, mummies were preserved through the use of smoke and resins. The dry climate of the Andes Mountains aided the preservation of the bodies. The people of the Aleutian Islands and the Ancestral Pueblo people (once called the Anasazi) of the American Southwest also mummified their dead. Mummification is still practiced today in the form of embalming. Among the most famous modern mummies are those of the Communist leaders V. I. Lenin of Russia and Mao Zedong of China. 
Examples of mummies preserved through natural means include the “Iceman,” a 5,300-year-old mummy discovered in the Alps in 1991. The body, found in a mountain glacier, was preserved by freezing. Well-preserved bodies of human beings have also been found in peat bogs, a type of wetland where the soil is acidic and lacking in oxygen. These conditions prevent the decay of animal matter. Scientists have found many such bog bodies in Denmark and other countries in northern Europe.
