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Ancient Egypt Magazine

Issue Four - November / December 2000

The Desert Preserves the Ancestors

Mummies are a world-wide phenomenon. Extremes of heat and dryness, or, at the other end of the scale, sub-zero temperatures, can turn a dead body into a mummy without human interference. Some mummies, such as those of Buddhist saints and sages in central Asia, can become sacred objects, icons, in their own right.

The mummies of Egypt, thousands of bodies of the well-off and ordinary people of the country in ancient times, are the result of artificial processes intended to preserve their bodies for eternity. However, the inspiration for this came directly from the natural processes of Egypt, the hot, desiccating climate and sand, which preserved the bodies of early hunter gatherers and subsequently herdsmen and farmers in Upper Egypt.

One of the earliest of these is “Ginger”, possibly the most well-known exhibit in the British Museum. As burial became richer, and the bodies secured from the ravages of animals within tombs, the naturally desiccating processes were no longer in action and artificial techniques developed in their place.

From these simple – and natural – origins, developed a whole funerary industry with accompanying rituals and beliefs of increasing complexity. The material and the religious went together; it was as important to preserve the body, and to have the necessary funerary equipment, as to have the right spells and religious texts available in the afterlife.

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