You have a reason to care. You know someone. You've lost someone. You've lived it.
The darkest times are no matter what we can do together. Join us for the can of sunrise challenge. From 829, Canadians are waking up with a sun to raise funds for a future where everyone can access mental health care they need, the moment they need it. Get up with a sun.
Show up for can of age and rise up for mental health. Register today at sunrise challenge. See ya! The Egyptians aren't the only ones who did this, but the mummies they made are the most plentiful and often accompanied by monumental tombs.
Fascination with Egyptian mummies began not with how they came to be mummified, but what they could do for living humans. From the 12th century to its late as the 19th century, Egyptian mummies were grown up and used as medicines by Europeans. This occurrence was due to a miscalculation of the word mummy. A term used by ancient Arabic physicians described a bitumen, a dark asphalt like substance used in Arabic medicine.
In turn, Arabic and European physicians confused the dark coloration of Egyptian mummies as being caused by using vids in the process of mummification. Therefore, mummy came to mean the desiccated human corpses wrapped in linens that were buried in tombs all over Egypt. If you want to hear about mummy's as medicine, listen to our episode on court's medicine. Mummy was also popular as a pigment.
Mummies were grown up to produce mummy brown, an umber color that was used in English artworks during the mid 1800s. Many artists however didn't know its origin, and once its origins became known, it quickly fell out of favor. It didn't help that the pigment degraded rather quickly after being applied to Candace. In 1798 to 1801, Napoleon Bonaparte set out on a military campaign in Egypt and Syria.
He brought many scientists and scholars within who documented many of the ancient monuments of Egypt. Egyptian ruins had never been documented in detail for Europeans before, so interest in ancient Egypt increased significantly during this time. Despite Napoleon's eventual defeat, the expedition led to the discovery of the Rosestone, which helped translate Egyptian hieroglyphics in 1822 and sparked the beginning of the field of Egyptology. In England, Egyptomaniya was rampant throughout the early 1800s.
However, very few people could afford a trip to Egypt, so they fulfilled their interesting Egyptian culture through the literature, art, and architecture that was inspired by it. Egyptian imagery and symbols appeared on furniture, decorations, commercial catch, and in advertising. In America too, Egyptomaniya spread rapidly in the mid 1800s, sparking similar literature, art, and architecture, but also race debates. Unfortunately, certain aspects, such as wall paintings or the physique of mummies, was used to suggest that the pharaohs were white.
This was in wrongly used to justify the denial of civil rights for any but white Americans. Modern scholars maintained that ancient Egypt was cosmopolitan, with varying skin colors and cultures across lower Egypt, upper Egypt, and newbiya. These varying cultures also rose to power in ancient Egypt in various eras. One of the most fascinating spectacles in early 19th century Britain, other than museum collections, was mummy unrolling.
These performances, during which a mummy would slowly be unwrapped and a dornance admired, were held in hospitals, theaters, private homes, and learned institutions. The most well known unrolling of mummies, was a surgeon and antiquarian named Thomas Pettigrew. At the start of each unrolling, Pettigrew gave a lecture on Egyptian history and religion. He then meticulously unwrapped the mummy, often passing around the ambulance and spell its ragaliness within.
He also occasionally performed autopsies on the body itself, went down in an academic setting, meticulous notes were often taken. Pettigrew even published a book in 1834 about all his experiences, called the history of Egyptian mummies. He's often credited with laying the foundations of modern mummy studies. Egyptology has been its own field of studies of the 1820s and fascination with Egypt and mummies still exists today.
In 1992, the first world congress on mummy studies was held in Spain, organized by Dr. Karado Rodriguez Martine and Dr. Arthur Arthur Heidi. This scientific event drew researchers from all over the world and continues to do so as it occurs every three years or so.
In fact, the 10th world congress on mummy studies is being held this year in Coltono, Italy, and September. I'd love to go and sound amazing. With all this research going into Egyptian mummification, its theorized that Egyptologists have a pretty good understanding of how mummies were made. But where has all the information come from?
Surprisingly, the ancient Egyptians didn't record the actual process themselves. If you remember from part one of this episode, the pyramid texts, coffin texts, and the book of the dead were all necessary for passage into the afterlife as was the mummy. These texts refer to the mummy, but not the physical process of making it. The only Egyptian reference system of the publication are some late period imagery of a part of the process.
Some papyrus from 200 BCE that record rituals associated with it, and some even later first century CE papyrus that taught themselves recited during the wrapping and the order in which to wrap the limbs. The oldest writing on the subject comes from 5th century BCE Greek historian Herodotus, who was very thorough in his descriptions. Another Greek historian, Diodorus Cus, also wrote a little bit about the process in the first century CE. These sources are from the Gregor Roman period, which, if you remember from part one, was during the decline of Egypt and the rise of Greece in later Rome.
Still, much of what Herodotus and Diodorus wrote seems to align with both archaeological finds and scientific analysis of mummies, and these were the later parts of Egyptian history. The process of mummification took thousands of years to perfect, with the height of quality mummy making being in the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom between 1550 and 1292 BCE. Apart from these writings, archaeology can tell us a little more. Each mummy on earth gives a little more information about the process as modern techniques, which, on the Scussman moment, can be used to reveal the details.
Recently, embalming caches have recognized in some areas and some tools. These burials contain detritus from the process of mummification. Anything associated with mummification was considered sacred, so it was buried in a sacred area, sometimes in its own sort of tomb, or within the tomb of the person whose mummies came from. For example, an embalming cache working to a common was found in 1907.
It was a pit that contained many sealed the jars, inside the jars were dishes, bags of nature on animal bones, and linens which had text on them dating to the final years of 18th Dynasty Pharaoh to to a common. All going to detail on all these types of objects after the break. It was later determined that the cache also contained remains of a funerary banquet. To a common tomb was discovered in 1922.
In the entryway of the tomb, several items similar to those in the cache were found, suggesting two mothers may have moved the jars to the location that archaeologists unearthed them. Most of the information we have on the mummification procedure comes from study other mummies themselves. While pedagrew on rolled mummies, destroying them to gain insight into what they contained, and possibly how they were made, modern scientists use a variety of medical imaging techniques, such as x-rays and CT scans to get a glimpse of what is hidden beneath the wrappings without destroying the mummy itself. Chemical testing such as radiocarbon dating isotopic analysis and DNA testing can also be employed to determine diet, pathology, origin, and many other details about the life of individual mummies.
Another method sometimes used to study ancient Egyptian mummies involves modern experiments in mummification. In 1994, researchers Bob Ryer and Ronald Wade attempted to replicate Egyptian mummification on a donated gutter. They were able to disprove some theories about the process, as well as theorize about other ways the Egyptians may have prepared mummies. Other researchers have also attempted to recreate the process using both human and animal catatters.
Let me know if you'd be interested in an episode about these types of experiments. Before I reveal what all these sources have taught us about the process of mummification, I'd like to talk a little bit about the evolution of Egyptian burial and the people who actually mummified the dead. But first, let's pause for our word for responses. Our regular sponsor is audible.com.
Audible can provide you with interesting and engaging audiobooks. In fact, there are over 180,000 of them to choose from which you can listen to on your iPhone, Android, Kindle, or other mp3 players. MCP listeners can get free audiobooks download and a 30-day free trial at audible.com by going to www.audibletrial.com slash MCP. You can also find this link on our Facebook page and website.
If you sign up for the free trial, you get a free audiobook that is yours to keep even if you cancel the service as soon as you finish downloading it. And the MCP gets the funding it needs to keep bringing more of the history to your ears. So go get your free audiobook on us. Lastly, if you like this podcast, why not sponsor the MCP yourself by becoming a patron on Patreon?
Over 45,000 people download this podcast every month, but only around 140 people are supporting us on Patreon. For a mere dollar an episode, that's $2 a month, you can get ad-free episodes. Bonus behind the scenes info, give your opinion by answering polls, have access to all the horror story readings, and get updates on past episodes. For three dollars an episode, you get monthly outtake reels.
For five dollars, you get a monthly quiz episode where I quiz my husband on past episodes. For ten dollars, you get a detailed weekly biography of all the resources I've used while researching an episode. And for $20, you get a bit of miscellaneous morbidity, a short essay on a random morbid topic every month. Previously, we have reviewed horror video games and television shows discussed to play pits of London and tried out historic recipes from previous episodes.
All of these rewards aside, your patron and your supports of podcasts and keeps new episodes coming. I can't keep doing this podcast without you, so go to bit.ly slash morbid patron that's pit.ly slash morbid patron to choose your rewards and support the MCP. You'll have my eternal gratitude. And now, back to the podcast.
The Egyptian word for money is saw. The traditional theory on how mummification developed is that the Egyptians noticed that when bodies were buried in sand, they dried out. And sometimes, flash and hair were perfectly preserved hundreds of years after burial. It may have seen that the body was still in use after death, suggesting an afterlife might exist.
Therefore, the complex ideology surrounding the afterlife developed, and alongside it, await artificially mummify the dead to preserve the body for the afterlife. This theory is changing thanks to recently uncovered evidence of mummification being much older than previously thought. Grapes from the pre-dynistic Nakata 2 period, around 3060 to 3300 BCE, from higher convalesce and a dinoins on each of, are thought to show attempts at mummification. The dead were wrapped in linens, which were soaked in a substance that may be the same preserved mixture found in later periods.
During this period, there is a lack of evidence pointing to believe in the afterlife, such as grapes. This suggests that perhaps the idea of the afterlife developed after artificial mummification. Either way, mummification developed over time, and it was perfected during the new king period. However, Egyptians buried their dead in a variety of ways before mummification was widespread.
The earliest graves so far discovered come from the Egyptian Neolithic era, around 5,000 to 4,000 BCE. The graves belonged to several pre-dynistic cultures, the merindae, the omari, and the maddi butyl cultures. All three groups buried their dead in similar ways, in shallow pit graves, with the body in a contracted position, also known as the fetal position, sometimes on top of a mat. The head might be in a certain direction, such as north or south, and grave goods, usually a single pot or jar, were few if any.
The maddi utokulture, which was in the Delta area of lower Egypt, beginning around 4,000 BCE, had established trade with Palestine, as is shown by the number of Palestinian pots found in graves. Around the same time in upper Egypt, another culture, the Benari, had similar graves, but the dead faced east toward the rising sun. This suggests some kind of sunworship, perhaps the beginning of the sun's significance as a symbol of rebirth. There were also a few more great goods, perhaps two vessels, stone-caused my pallets for eye paint, and beads.
The tombs were also much deeper in the ground than previous burials. From 4,000 to 3,000 BCE in upper Egypt, the nakkana culture flourished and it's thought to be the precursor to dinos to Egypt by many Egyptologists. Their development is grouped into three periods, while not going to one, the earliest of the nakkana periods had very similar burial practices to the bhedarians. By nakkana three, social differences were very apparent in cemeteries.
The elite were marked by deep cut tombs, sometimes with several rooms, and many grave goods, while ordinary people were buried less lavishly, but with more grave goods and deeper tombs than previously. However, as few nakkana cemeteries have been excavated, it's possible these types of tombs worked the norm. Only more excavations can reveal the truth. However, overall, we see a growing importance of the afterlife as well as social stratification.
Going forward, know that full mummification and lavitunes were only available to the nobility. The pharaoh and other royalty were the only ones who were mummified until the first intermediate period, when the practice spread to the priesthood and ability as well. By the third intermediate period, all levels of society were mummified, but the quality of the process and the tomb size and type was still dependent on social status as it was quite expensive. Around 2650 BCE, upper Egypt invaded lower Egypt, unifying the kingdoms under a single ruler and beginning the old kingdom period.
The capital was in Memphis, which is now a suburb of Cairo, a large and cropless developed at Sakara, just west of Memphis and further into the desert. Most burials were not too different from the end of an octop period, but they were definitely richer. coffins were used by this time, as was an early form of mummification. By the fourth dynasty, about 2350 to 2200 BCE, what Egyptologists called true mummification was taking place in which the body was cleaned.
The visera, or internal organs, were removed during the incision in left flank, and the body was dried and wrapped in bandages. Plaster was then applied, molded and painted in attempted to recreate the likeness of the deceased. By the end of the old kingdom, molding the wrappings fell out of favor and spiral bandages in which the linens were wrapped around and around the body became the usual. By the middle kingdom, between 2017-1650 BCE, evolving mummification technology and procedure gave rise to even better preserved mummies.
Along with the abdominal viscera, the brain was also sometimes removed, usually by puncturing the ethmoy bone at the back of the nose. I'll go into greater detail on the surgical procedures of mummification in a moment. The viscera, but not the brain, were sometimes preserved in kanopic jars or chests alongside the body. The limbs were individually wrapped in linens, and then the whole body was cocoonin' them.
Masks were also placed over the face, decorated to represent the deceased. During the new kingdom, which began around 1550 BCE, mummies began to look more life-like due to stuffing and oiling. Unfortunately, this caused many mummies to grade much faster. Royal mummies now had their arms crossed over their chests.
Non-royal women were wrapped with their arms at their sides, while men had their hands over their genitals. Small purifications were also done, such as hair extensions and makeup for both men and women. During the 18th Dynasty, which is considered the classic period for mummification, many times body cavities were packed with bags of naytron. Facial features and sometimes genitalia were preserved using wooden sticks, animal bones, and naytron packets.
Sometimes injuries were repaired as well, such as when limbs being put in the ravings if the limb had been lost during life. The mummies of the poor were not often treated with oils or other expensive materials. Older methods of mummification were used most often at this level of society. It was in the third intermediate period, beginning at around 1060 BCE, that the process of mummification reached itsiness.
The body was cleaned, stuffed, and dried. Beeth were placed in the eyes to hold their shape. Or linens with eyes were painted on them and placed over the eyes. Paint was used to find other facial features as well.
Bapping was done in figure 8 patterns to stabilize the corpse, and the body was covered in a decorated shroud. After the 21st Dynasty, around 950 BCE, the quality of mummies began to decline. Stuffing and painting were abandoned. New methods of evisceration with abcannacles, involving multiple incisions left the body's damaged, and by the end of the period, removing the visor of abandoned altogether.
Drying and wrapping was done quickly and poorly. The process of mummification was very well done during the Greco-Roman period, but generally, wrapping room more and more elaborate and painted portraits of the seas were held in place by bandages. Mummification was mostly abandoned during the Christian period, which began in the third century CE. Throughout all these centuries, the process of mummification was performed only by a special set of priests referred to as embalmers by modern Egyptologists.
These men had an elevated knowledge of human anatomy and the process of mummification. Her mummitus stated that in his time, they belonged to different workshops and her calling was hereditary, meaning father passed down his knowledge and position to son. Most embalmers were quite well respected, as they were in charge of entry to the afterlife. However, there was one embalming occupation which was not.
According to Teodores, the slitter, the man in charge of making unnecessary incision in the flight of the corpse, fled immediately after doing his work chased away by the other embalmers and passersby, providing the corpse. The idea was likely not to actually hurt the man, but to literally adhere to the taboo against filing a corpse. Embalmers were associated with the god of newness, a jackal had a deity who prepared a seerus' body after his death. Anubis also led the dead to a seerus' judgment against a mat.
He was also the guardian of the Necropolis. Some embalmers wore a jackal-headed mask in order to personify newness during certain parts of the process. Mummification took place in or near the Necropolis in a series of workshops and temporary buildings. The washing of the body occurred in a tent-like structure, which was often your over-the-work canal.
The embalning was often done in a mud-preastructure, close to two entrance. Archaeological evidence of these workshops has been found in front of several tombs at ESA. I'm now going to go into detail on the surgical procedures involved in Mummification. It's quite interesting, but also graphic.
Her monetist describes the process of Mummification in Book II of his histories, which was written around 430 BCE during a time when Egypt was ruled by the Persian Empire. He describes three processes, which range from the most perfect Mummification to a much simpler version with the price tags to match. Her monetist stated that the embalmers used wooden models to show each process to the family before proceeding. The most perfect and expensive process was quite labor intensive for the embalmers.
First, the brain was removed. I can't help but hear the character of Evelyn to describe this process in a mummy. The brain was removed through the nostril by first using a sharp pointed tool to slice it up, liquefying it, and then likely draining it out of the nose. The cranium was then rinsed with chemicals to dissolve whatever tissue was left inside, and then coated with resin, or sap from fur or pine trees that had to be imported.
Resin inherited bacterial growth and cut down on the smell. The nostril was then plugged up with linen. Next, an incision was made in the flank with a flint knife by the previously mentioned. Aslier, all contents of the abdominal cavity were removed through this opening, except the heart, which was left in place.
The empty abdominal cavity was then rinsed with palm wine, and then again within infusion of spices. The cavity was then coated with resin, filled with marinade, other aromatics, and sewn shut. The body was then placed in nature on it. A substance made up of mixed assaults that occurs naturally in Egypt, especially northwest Cairo.
It has desiccating and defending properties, and was used up until the Christian era of Egypt for mummification. The immersion in nature on was down on an embalming table, which had raised a slice across it for body fluid drainage. The body was placed on top of a thick layer of nature on it, and the openings were filled with small bags of it, and then more was piled on top of the body. The nature on was changed regularly, as once it absorbed the body fluid, it wasn't effective again until it dried out.
The body remained immersed in nature on for about 40 days, and was then taken out, washed, and then oiled with cedar or ginger oil to begin flexibility, and sent the course. It was then wrapped from head to toe in clean and advantages, using a gomat, he said, wrapping or wits in Egyptian, was both a physical barrier to protect the course and magical protection for the deceased. Ambulates were inserted into the wraps, and spells were recited as the wrapping commenced. The body was then given back to the family, who usually had a coffin ready for it.
The whole malification process took up about 70 days. The middle of the road process, in both effort and expense, left out the incision into the abdominal cavity. Instead, cedar oil was injected into the anus using syringe and stopped out using a linen plug. The body was then placed in nature on for 70 days.
At the end of this time, the linen plug was removed from the anus, and the viscera, which had liquefied thanks to the oil, was drained out. The body was then returned to the family, who likely oiled and wrapped it to themselves. The most economical and least labor intensive process involved watching out the intestines only, using the syringe method. The body was then left in nature on for only seven days before returning into the family.
These processes recorded by Herodotus were likely true over his time. However, malification, both the process and the technology changed over time, so the procedure used in the 5th century BCE was likely not the same as what was done in previous millennia. Also, more than one procedure was likely used at any given time, as it largely depended on the preferences and style of the embalmers. The exception to this appears to be the length of time it took to mummify someone.
70 days seems to be the standard throughout Egyptian history, though some individuals took longer. It's possible the 70-day period was associated with the disappearance and reappearance of serious, a star which the ancient Egyptians associated with those serous. There were several goddesses associated with malification as well. Neath and selcat to protect the deceased, especially during bombing.
Neath was a creator and war goddess, while selcat was a sorpyan goddess who oversaw bringing the breath back to the mummy. There were four goddesses that protected the coffin and also specific organs that were removed from the body and placed in kanopic jars. Originally, the jars had lids in shape of human heads, but by the milking them they had the heads of animals, representing the four children of Horus. Each was also protected by goddess.
In Zeti, had the head of a human and contained the liver. In Zeti was protected by Isis. Poppy had the head of a bone and contained the lungs. He was protected by nethes.
Jua Mu Tef had the head of a dog and contained the stomach. He was protected by Neath. Keba Sanyuef had the head of a hawk and contained the intestines. He was protected by selcat.
The earliest known example of kanopic jars was found in the burial of queen had fairies. The mother of kenkufu, owner of the largest of the great pyramids. Hervisera were wrapped in linen and placed in a weak solution of natron and water to preserve them. Kanopic jars weren't always used.
However, even after the visera began to be placed back into the body after dryant during the third intermediate period, false kanopic jars were still sometimes included in tombs. Along with the body, many amulets and charms were tucked into linen wrappings. These items were often inscribed with spells, incantations or symbols that were believed to protect the owner against evil, grand luck, or assist in some way with the passage to the afterlife. Their power came from their shape and also the material they were made of usually a type of stone.
Both royal and non-roymonies contain amulets, but royal and noble amulets often have far more. The most well-known amulet is the watch at eye, where the eye force, which protected the wearer, gets all evils through the power of Horus. These were placed all over the body and wrappings. From the new kingdom forward, a wax or metal plate bearing the symbol of the eye was also placed over the mummification incision.
Another well-known amulet is the scarab which was placed off the heart beginning in the milkingum. This stone representation of a scarab beetle served as a replacement for the heart in case it was destroyed before it could be weighed by a serious. The ink was also an important symbol included on many amulets. The ink is a hieroglyph meaning life and it represented the hope of eternal life.
There are of course variations in amulets in every period of Egyptian history. In February of 2021, six badly preserved mummies from the record Roman period Egypt were found in your central head of the royal amulets in the shape of tongues. It's not that the dead were given the gold tongue amulets so that they could speak before the court of the god of seerus in the afterlife. One female mummy also had a full plaster and linen mask with a partially gilded image of a seerus.
It's unknown why these mummies have these types of amulets. As you can see, there is still plenty to learn about ancient Egyptian mummification as new variations of the process and the items included with the mummy are still being unearthed. If you'd like to know more about Egyptian mummification, I recommend at Selimagicrum's book Death and Baryal in Ancient Egypt or Ikram and Aiden Dotsons book The mummy in Ancient Egypt. In part three of our ancient Egypt series, we'll discuss various tombs and pyramids until then keep tending to that spark of more to curiosity.
The more biciriasity podcast was produced by H. Lloyd. If you'd like to get in touch or suggest a more bic donation, visit our website www.morebiciriasitypodcast.com and click on the donate button. Also on our website you'll find links to all our social media, a listed episodes and other ways to contact us, including our mailing address.
Another way to help the show is by visiting our Amazon Wishlist at biddly slashmorebishlist. That's the IT.ly slash more bishlist. Any purchases on this list are greatly appreciated. We are eternally grateful for your support.
My name is Halley and until next time, thanks for listening.