momma are practically synonymous withAncient Egypt . The terminus conjures up mental image of an undead animate being wrap in bandage rising from its sarcophagus late within a Great Pyramid . But ma aren’tHollywood monsters ; they ’re the effect of sacred ( and sometimes accidental ) processes date stamp back K of years .
TheEgyptianshad their own specialized technique for preserving important figures . decay was stopped by taking out the national pipe organ , wash the body withwine and spices , and then rubbing it with natron — a rude salt . Once the clay was prepared , it was wrapped in strip of linen paper .
While this may be the most famous mummification method acting from history , it ’s not the only direction to prevent rotting . Whether they were preserved as part of cultural practices or as an unintended event of their environment , these mummies from beyond Ancient Egypt are worth knowing .
Bog Bodies
To make leather , constitutive material is steeped in a fluid solution containing tannins ( a.k.a.tanning ) . This basic process is cardinal to the creation of “ bog bodies”—corpses that became naturally mummified in the peat bogs obtain in northern Europe . The piddle - log peat creates an anoxic , or O - devoid , environment . In parky climates , this can lead to the conservation of human hair , wear , and skin . you’re able to discover a peat bog body by its colouring material : Over clip , the natural tannins in the bog turn the mummified cutis a dismal chocolate-brown or black shade , interchangeable to leather .
While the oldestfleshed bog bodyperished around 4000 age ago , the absolute majority of them date back to the Iron Age around the ninth one C BCE to the 1st century CE . In that epoch , bog burial was probably restricted to outcasts and felon , as many of the recovered bodies uncover grounds of being stabbed , hamper , hanged , or beaten .
Chinchorro Mummies
The oldest known human being - made mammy come from northern Chile . The Chinchorro people aboriginal to the area begin mummifying their dead around 5000 BCE—2000 years earlier than the ancient Egyptians did . When a member of their residential district died , theChinchorrostripped the flesh from the skeleton and dried the remains ( possibly withhot ashesor coals ) before reassembling them as a mummy . The body was scarf out with the Great Compromiser , reeds , and other fillermaterials .
dry out tissue paper preserves them because it removes moisture , foreclose the growth of microorganisms that induce spoiling . Egyptian mummieswere made in a similar way beginning around 2600 BCE .
Naturally Dried Mummies
Many natural mama have been discovered in dry and cold geographic area . On mountaintops in the Andes , mummies of sacrificed ancientInca childrenfroze before theydried out , leave them with the appearance of simply being numb in maliciousness of having died more than 500 years ago . Europe ’s oldest known natural mummy — Ötzi the Iceman — is also a product of freeze - drying . He was discovered by tramp in the Ötztal Alps in 1991 , 5300 old age after snuff it .
The extremely dry climate in China ’s Tarim Basin desert preservedhundreds of bushed the great unwashed — including their hairsbreadth , tattooed skin , and wear — between2100and 100 BCE . And in the early 1990s , eight people who had died 700 geezerhood prior were receive in a cave in Lebanon . The low humidity andsandy soilhad naturally preserved the so - calledMaronite mummies .
Ice Mummies
By freezing food , it ’s potential to slack the increase of bacteria that transgress down nub — so it ’s no surprise that mummies are found in ice and snow . The 4th to 3rd one C BCEPazyryk burialsin Siberia are well - known for their impressive tombs and the tattoos that adorn the bodies of both man and women . archaeologist determined that the grave accent of the so - calledSiberian Ice Maidenhad flooded withrain and immobilise in short after her entombment , preserve her for millennia .
In western Greenland , eight mammy of people who die in the fifteenth 100 were discovered at a cliff internet site calledQilakitsoqin1972 . The most far-famed mummy is that of a 6 - month - old boy ; he and his family were found fully clothed , their body preserved by freeze temperature .
Sealed Mummies
Through the combination of warmth and an airtight Navy SEAL , canning can prevent food spoiling . likewise , sealing a dead body in an environment barren of oxygen can make a mummy .
pencil lead and iron coffin were popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth 100 in the U.S. Their perfect seals have head to the discoveries of numerous well - preserved bodies , admit ateenage boyfrom the Civil War geological era , a Queenswomanfrom an early gratuitous fatal community , and the 18th - one C American naval heroJohn Paul Jones . Dozens of seal momma have also been find in Korea dating to the 16th to 18th centuries . know as theJoseon Dynasty mummies , the bodies appear to have been preserved thanks to thelime - based soilsurrounding the tomb , which in effect created an airtight stamp .
Salt Mummies
Salt draw moisture out of flesh and slows microbial growth , making it a wide-eyed pecker for dry gangrene . The sixSaltmen of Iranappear to have been working in Chehrabad salt mine 1700 years ago when a mineshaft collapsed on them . One mummified miner had prospicient tomentum and a beard , and his lower pegleg was happen still case in his leather bang .
Another famous salt mummy is that ofItigilov , a Tibetan Buddhist genus Lama . Itigilov was exhumed three tenner after his death in 1927 , evidently well - preserve . He was reburied in a coffin full of salt , allegedlyexhumed and reburied again in 1972 , and then finally exhumed in 2002 and put on display .
A handful of momma were found on islands like Ichaboe off the coast of Namibia at the height of the 19th century global trade in guano . The fertilizer hadsealed the bodiesin a salt - rich and oxygen - wretched environment .
Toi Moko
In the 19th century , Māori , the indigenous people of New Zealand , make “ shrunken heads ” through a process that forestall decomposition . know astoi moko , the heads were sever and thenpreservedthrough a combining of steaming , smoke , and dry . Toi mokowere usually keep by families as a form of root veneration , but many were stolen and traded with Westerners during theMusket Warsin the first half of the 19th one C . As a upshot , legion toi mokoare held in museum today , and the Māori arecalling for their income tax return .
Modern Mummies
Today , the bodies of our deceased lie with ones are often embalmed — a process that involves removing internal fluids and supercede them with chemical substance such as formaldehyde . This does n’t number as mummification , however , as the technique is commonly viewed as short - term preservation rather than a way of life to preserve bodies for millennia .
But some contemporary ma do exist . Soviet drawing card Vladimir Lenin , who died in 1924 , is kept “ fresh ” by a team ofscientistswho re - embalm his corpse everyother year . The English philosopher Jeremy Bentham ’s “ auto - icon ” can be viewed at University College London today nigh 200 years after his expiry . It consists of Bentham ’s own clothes and a wax model of his head on his keep up skeleton . ( It in the first place included his actualmummified head , but that ’s now kept in computer memory due to warping and discolouration . )
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