Features Of The Mummification Process In Ancient Egypt - Term Paper Example

Features Of The Mummification Process In Ancient Egyptt According to Oxford English dictionary, the word mummy was recorded in the English language during fourteenth century. It is present in Medieval Latin as mumia and derived from Arabic and Persian description of an embalmed body prepared by wax or bitumen.1In the ancient Egypt, the word ‘mummy’ was used only for artificially preserved bodies. However, use of word “mummy” is incorrect for such bodies as the term is derived from Persian or Arabic ‘mumia’ that refers to pitch or bitumen. Bitumen was a blackish substance that seeped from Persian “Mummy Mountain” and flowed down with water where it coagulated like a mineral pitch. Egyptians strongly believed in medicinal properties of this substance. Considering its increasing demand, Egyptians found its alternative source in the form of mummies. Preserved bodies of Egyptians also appeared to have such blackened substance with properties like ‘mumia’. Therefore, it was used as medicinal element in medieval and later times. Later, the term transformed into mummy and Egyptian started using it for preserved bodies.2In recent times, “the term is now often used to describe any naturally or artificially preserved body in which desiccation of the tissues has enabled it to resist putrefaction. These human remains (consisting of the Skelton and the body tissues) have been found in several countries and are preserved by a variety of methods.”3 In ancient Egypt, body preservation through mummification holds dual meaning and purpose. It was believed that deceased body should be treated in order to make him incorruptible. The other reason was the urge to maintain the physical appearance of body as close to living human as possible. Predynastic age burials confirm the early development of Egyptian beliefs about life after death. It is considered that the idea of preserving human or animal body stemmed from hot and dry Egyptian climate. Initially the burial process was carried out in a comparatively simple manner without any embalming procedure. The body was placed in sand in a constricted position with objects of daily use, such as, pottery. The body was wrapped in linen, hide, or red matting. The pit was often lined with bricks or board and small tumulus was placed. The hot and dry sand served the purpose of preservation and desiccated the bodies. The reason of keeping objects in grave or pits was the idea that deceased is going to be served by them in the next life.4 Religious beliefs and associated funerary rituals appeared to be developed at the commencement of dynastic age in approximately 3000 BC. The structure and design of tomb for early dynastic kings reflected the essence and style of living architecture of the time. The presence of numerous funerary offerings in burials indicates the expectation that the honored member of royal family will need these objects in his extend life in another world. During pharaonic age, the term of home for spirit was in use throughout their history. Despite modifications in structure, basic purpose of mummifying bodies remained the same, i.e. to serve as an eternal home for soul. Private tomb superstructure developed into house like which protected the burial in depth of earth. These spacious superstructures were used for the rituals at the time of burial and after, in addition to provide storage area for funerary objects. The subsidiary entombment of retainers indicates the understanding of the immortality on them and their purpose of serving their master in the spirit world. With the increasing complexity in the structure of tomb, the body position was changed in accordance to the warm surface layers of sand. For instance, body was buried at the bottom of tomb shaft which is at a lower point in earth.5 Tomb development practices involved the removal of body from surface and it was crucial to work on the methods of preserving physical remains. Therefore, such practices were developed early in simple times. Whenever there was a case of proper burial, some efforts were made to preserve and treat the corpse to make it resistant to decay. The major element of Egyptian body preservation practice was the removal of body fluid from corpse. It is not simple to imagine the impetus for the early developments in the craft of mummification. However, some accidental knowledge from predynastic burial is frequently suggested to be accessed by people in early dynasties. We can understand it by simply considering that Egyptian inspiration of body fluid removal may have come from the meat and fish preservation after drying. Whatever the case may be, Egyptian mummification was evolved with all of its essential details in early 400 years of pharaonic history.6 There had been different forms of mummification, for instance: unintentional preservation by natural means, intentional natural mummification, and true mummification. In unintentional natural mummification, the environmental factors, such as heat, cold, and absence of air worked alone or in some combination to work for body preservation. The results of such mummification are discovered in Egypt, Aleutia, Alaska, Peru, and northwest Europe. In some places, the unintentional natural mummification is enhanced by intentional efforts, for instance, fire and candles were used to desiccate the body or smoke was used to heal it. In some cases, the body was filled with some stuff in addition to cover it with dry grass. Completely sealed surroundings proved to be helpful for preservation. Finally, the true mummification is the ancient Egyptian practice which was deliberate and consisted of most developed processes. The intentional process involved many techniques either single or in combination involving the use of chemical and similar agents that facilitated the preservation of the body.7 The artificial means of mummifying corpse was practiced in Egypt from the time of Old Kingdom in c.2649BC and throughout Christian era. With the advent of Islam in AD 641, the mummification practice ceased. In the early Dynastic period (c.3000-2649 BC) some experiments with artificial means led to the numerous attempts in Second Dynasty and onward. Body retaining and preserving experimentation was generally successful during early Dynasty and Old Kingdom both. According to an estimate, in Third Dynasty, foetal position for the corpse was abolished and left side lying position was adopted. The classic example of Fourth Dynasty’s successful evidence is Viscera, the Queen of Herepheres. The mummy was soaked in diluted solution of natron which indicated that such dehydration process was extensively used for the members of royal families.8 During Middle Kingdom (c.2040-1640 BC) the Egyptian society was democratized and the process gave rise to middle class which adopted mummification. Their bodies were not well prepared for preservation during Old Kingdom. Excerebration was adopted quite early during this period and it flourish with the New Kingdom and after that. Desiccation was not adequately done; therefore, the process of body decay starts right after death. In the New Kingdom, Egyptians became more technologically strong as in Nineteenth Dynasty (c.1307-1196 BC) they were able to even retain the skin color, for instance mummy of Rameses II. Third and intermediate period from c.1070 to 712 BC was the time of refinement as the efforts were made to restore the plumpness of body and retain its realistic appearance. The process involved wrapping the neck and face with things like butter, linen, earth, and sand which were put in by mouth or abdominal incisions. During this time, the viscera was removed but not kept in canopic jars rather they are inserted in the body again in four separate packets. Artificial eyes were fixed, face or whole body was colored with red (men) or yellow (women).Fake plaits were also inserted in order to augment the hair. These methods and techniques were used in the next two Dynasties as well.9 During the late period (c.712-332 BC) Twenty-sixth Dynasty, the packing practice abolished and viscera were stored in jars or kept between the legs in packet form. In Platonic Period (332-30 BC) the practice of mummification flourished and transformed into a social and commercial practice rather than religious activity. Viscera was either kept in body with any arrangement or packed in chemical. Evisceration or brain removal was often abandoned. Numerous bodies were at higher stages of decomposition at when mummification was introduced, however, the outer covering and wrapping of them was always elaborate in Hellenistic period.10 During Roman period (30BC-AD395) the practice of mummification declined. The body discovered from this era were poorly retained, brain removal or evisceration process were hard to determine. Despite all this, outer covering used to be highly structured and well-preserved. Then comes the Christian period (AD 395-641), the practice was carried out in some areas of Egypt and Nubia. Evisceration was not done while natron and other chemicals were used to keep body soft. Layers of bandages were replaced by colored clothing. The practice came to an end with the arrival of Islam with Arab conquest in AD 641.11 Methods of mummification and associated religious activities were not only a crucial part of body preservation but also a symbol of social status and power of the deceased. According to Greek historian Herodotus, three primary types of mummification processes were available for the clients with different paying capacity. Most luxurious and expensive method involved elaborate funerary rituals and comparatively elongated and complicated procedure for body preservation. The procedure includes quite a few stages; however, the most important stage was to hold back body decomposition process through evisceration and dehydration. Internal organs were usually removed by incision through abdominal and thoracic cavities. Viscera were removed in some cases through anus and dehydrated by natron. Afterwards, either it was kept in empty body cavities or between the legs of deceased in canopic jars. Heart was considered to be vital for the deceased intelligence and force for life, therefore, it was never removed while brain was not only removed but also discarded.12 After organ removal, body cavities were rinsed with spiced palm wine and stuffed with a combination of dry natron, vegetable material and gum resin. The body was then kept for seven days in order to dehydrate. Forty days were considered to be sufficient for dehydration; however, Herodotus mentioned it to be seventy days which may refer to the complete time period from death to burial. After complete dehydration, the temporary stuffing from cavities was replaced with either permanent stuffing or visceral organ parcels. At next stage, abdominal opening was closed and nostrils were filled with wax or resin. After this, body was smeared with different oils and gum resins. Perhaps, the last step helped in delaying the decomposition and covering the odor, however, these final stages were for cosmetic reasons and played little or no part in actual preservation of the tissue. After completion of basic preservation process, corpse was wrapped into bandages and special amulets were kept between the linen in order to protect the departed from evil or danger. Internal organ removal and bandaging restrict swelling and blister formation of body and slowed down the decomposition. At final stage, a resinous material was poured on body and coffin and then returned to the family to proceed with burial and funeral process.13 According to Herodotus, other less expansive methods of mummification didn’t include complete evisceration of deceased body. Second method was also used for animal mummification. The procedure included the injecting cedar oil from anus and its blockage in body. The body was treated with natron and the stomach and intestine comes out of the body with oil in a liquefied form due to natron treatment. The treated body was left with only skin and bones which embalmers return to family for burial and funeral. This method was comparatively superior to the third method in which after purging, the body was treated with natron and returned to the family.14The bodies were placed in a special stone container for burial which is called sarcophagus.15 Originating from a Greek term that means “eater of flesh”, sarcophagus is the stone receptacle to preserve the remains of Egyptian mummies. The Greek association is because of the limestone that has the property of dissolving human remains. In Fifth Dynast, the stone sarcophagi were used which had elaborate patterns reflecting the places of importance or painted imitation of similar material. Sarcophagus used to be huge and heavy; therefore, labors transfer it to the tomb before funeral ceremony. By the time of Middle Kingdome, sarcophagus was rarely available. Therefore, the practices of using it became restricted to royal or highly honored burials. The decoration of sarcophagus ranged from ascetic to painted reliefs. In New Kingdom, the sarcophagus took the forms of a rectangle or anthropoid. Sarcophagi were available for common man in Eighteenth Dynasty. During Ramessid Dynasty, common person was painted in his daily attire while royal sarcophagi were rectangle and decorated with religious texts. In Nineteenth Dynasty, king was painted in high relief and inner surfaces were painted with funerary texts. The practice became unpopular and remained so until 650 B.C.E. When it continued again, it was consisted of pharaohs during Ptolemaic and later periods.16 Mummification process was performed in embalmer’s workshop called “wbt” which means “place of purification”. There are some workshops discovered near tombs, however, considering the “impure” nature and risks associated with the whole process, most of the workshops were established outside the tomb and the workshops dealing with numerous bodies were erected near necropolises or temples. Different rituals were also associated with the mummification process. Few of these rituals were carried out in embalmer’s working area while most important were performed at tomb and known as “Opening of the Mouth ceremony”. In addition, other less important rituals were carried out over the course of seventy days. Egyptologists never identify the duration of ritualistic practice was long either for its own sake or because of the elongated mummification process.17 The mummification process varied throughout the history of ancient Egypt. However, it never ceased completely before the advent of Islam in Egypt. During the practicing years, factors like environment, class, and even availability or demand of a particular material influenced the process and practice. Egyptian beliefs on life after death may or may not be true, but history of mummification process reminds us of its deep impact on Egyptian society. Bibliography Bryant, D. Clifton and Dennis L.Peck, Encyclopedia of Death and the Human Experience. California: SAGE Publication Inc., 2009. Bunson, Margret. Encyclopedia of ancient Egypt, revised edition. New York, NY: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data, 2002-1991. Cockburn and Cockburn, 1980, quoted in. Rosalie David. “Mummification,” in Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, ed. Paul T. Nicholson & Ian Shaw (Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 373. David, A. Rosalie. “Mummification.” in Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, ed. Paul T. Nicholson & Ian Shaw.373-374.Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Monet, Jefferson. “An overview of Mummification in Ancient Egypt” [featured stories].Tour Egypt, n.d. http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/mummification.htm (Accessed December 9, 2010). Peck, H. William. “Mummies of ancient Egypt.” In Mummies, disease & ancient cultures, ed.Aiden Cockburn, Eve Cockburn & Theodore A. Reyman.17-19.New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Read More