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However, this mummification was likely unintentional, and even culturally seen as ominous and undesirable. [72] Mummification likely occurred due to a number of factors. One such factor was the airtight seal (especially as the Korean climate is unfavorable to mummification) around the bodies, which was achieved using a mix of lime, clay, and sand.
Mummification existed in three different processes, ranging from most expensive, moderately expensive, and most simplistic, or least expensive. [21] The most classic, common, and most expensive method of mummification dates back to the eighteenth dynasty. The first step was to remove the internal organs and liquid so that the body would not decay.
Excerebration is an ancient Egyptian mummification procedure of removal of the brain from corpses prior to actual embalming. Greek writer Herodotus , a frequent visitor to Egypt, wrote in the fifth century B.C. about the process, "Having agreed on a price, the bearers go away, and the workmen, left alone in their place, embalm the body.
Mummification was a practice that the ancient Egyptians adopted because they believed that the body needed to be preserved in order for the dead to be reborn in the afterlife. [15] Initially, Egyptians thought that like Ra, their physical bodies, or Khat, would reawaken after they completed their journey through the underworld. [16]
This method was widely used in the pre-dynastic Egyptian period, before artificial mummification was developed. [7] The natural mummification that occurred with these dry sand burials may have led to the original Egyptian belief in an after-death survival and started the tradition of leaving food and implements for an afterlife. [8]
The spiritual and biological ritual of mummification could take 70 days, including removing internal organs except for the heart because it was thought to be the soul’s home. Embalmers used salt ...
Purifying the body was an important step before the ceremony could take place. This was done using natron, a type of salt used to preserve the body in the mummification process. Afterwards perfumes and oils were placed in their mouth and on other regions of their body.
The etymologies of both English mummia and mummy derive from Medieval Latin mumia, which transcribes Arabic mūmiyā "a kind of bitumen used medicinally; a bitumen-embalmed body" from mūm "wax (used in embalming)", which descend from Persian mumiya and mum.