Mummy

MUMMY, a dead body preserved by the ancient Egyptian or other method of embalming (Persian mumiai, wax later mean ing pitch or asphalt).

Origin of Mummification.

In Egypt, in prehistoric times, the dead were buried, sometimes loosely wrapped in mats or skins, in shallow graves, the body being placed in a flexed position. The hot, dry, desert sand came into direct contact with the skin and often so completely arrested the process of decay that the hair, skin and soft parts are entirely preserved. This phenomenon of natural preservation was probably made known to the Egyptians through the ravages of grave-robbers whose depredations exposed the bodies to view. The discovery that the corpses of the dead did not suffer corruption undoubtedly strengthened, perhaps orig inated, the belief in the physical survival of the dead, which under lies the practice of mummification throughout the historic period, and prompted the ampler provision of food, utensils and other objects necessary to physical life which were buried with the dead. As the number of objects placed in the grave increased, the grave itself had to be more spacious in order to accommodate these larger supplies. But the burial of the dead in roomier graves or in constructed tombs in which the corpse, no longer embedded in desiccating sand, was in a space filled with air which assisted de composition, defeated the very object that had inspired the more lavish equipment. The body decayed, and the dead man did not survive to enjoy the objects with which he was surrounded. Thus arose the attempt to achieve by art the preservation of the body which unaided nature could no longer accomplish in the larger tombs.

Development of Mummification.

It is probable that at tempts at mummification were being made at the time of the 1st dynasty, but the earliest evidence of such attempts is afforded by a mummy of the 2nd dynasty, which was lying in a coffin in a flexed position, and was wrapped in a complex series of bandages, the innermost of which were corroded by the action of some preservative (probably crude natron) that had been applied to the skin (Report, British Association, Dundee, 1912, p. 612). Similarly treated bodies belonging to the 3rd and 4th dynasties have been discovered. By the time of the 5th dynasty consider able advances had been made. The body was now laid in the ex

tended position and the internal organs were removed through an incision in the left flank, the vacant cavity being filled with linen and resin. The outer wrappings were saturated with resin and the form of the body was then moulded into shape, the details of the features being carefully modelled and emphasized by means of paint (bourn. of Egyptian Archaeology, i., 1914, p. 192). During the Middle Kingdom, the art of embalming deteriorated some what, for, owing to the less lavish use of resin and to imperfect desiccation, the mummies of this period are usually very fragile and ill-preserved. There is definite evidence that at this period the custom of macerating the body in a salt-bath had been intro duced, but no attempt had as yet been made to remove the brain. In the New Kingdom (18th-2oth dynasties) numerous im provements in method were introduced. The brain was removed by forcing a passage into the skull, a better method of desiccation was used which preserved the tissues, and greater skill had been acquired in the preparation and application of the resinous pre servative material with which the body was treated. Mummies of many of the kings and other members of the royal family of this period have survived, and although they have all been mutilated by tomb-robbers, many of them are excellent specimens of the embalmer's art (G. Elliot Smith, The Royal Mummies, 1912).

The order of events in the process of making a mummy was this. The corpse was taken to a specially erected tent or kiosk, where the operator first extracted the brain, and opened the body by an incision in the left flank. Through this incision all the viscera were removed with the exception of the heart, which was carefully left in situ. The body-cavity having been washed out, the corpse was doubled into the smallest possible compass and placed in a large jar filled with a solution of salt or natron that reached to the level of the neck. In this jar the body remained for several weeks, during which time the fatty matter was dis solved away, and the whole of the epidermis peeled off, except from the head which was not immersed, and from the fingers and toes where the skin had been previously cut so as to form natural finger-stalls or thimbles of skin in order to retain the nails.