Monday 14 March 2011

Mummies Reflect Primal Urge to Extend Human Life (National Geographic)

Definition of word Mummy: A mummy is an ancient cadaver whose soft tissue has partially or wholly resisted decay.
According to current scientific beliefs what are some reasons people were intentionally mummified? In order to preserve the lives of the dead so that maybe they can return for future life. Mummification can be used for preserving the lives of children. Today some modern people are attempting to deep-freeze them selves or having a process called Summun Mummification happening as well.
What features of the natural environment can cause bodies to be mummified unintentionally? They can be preserved by the frozen climate. From mossy bogs, or lack of air also in deserts, caves, salt, sand, cellars, and crypts.
In what parts of the world have mummies been found? Lots of people think that mummies have only been found in Egypt however, mummies have been found all over the wold. For example, the oldest mummies that have been found date back to 7,000 years ago, and were found in northern Chile. Thousands of mummies have been found in mossy bogs in in England and Northern Europe. Some have bee found in Asia, and Oceania and of course lets not forget the most popular mummies which are found in Egypt.
In what types of places (physical geography and climate) have mummies been found? Mummies have been found in cold, dry climates.

How did ancient Egyptians preserve their dead? The earliest ancient Egyptians buried the dead in small pits in the desert. This worked as purposeful, natural mummification, this worked because the hot desert sand wold dehydrate the bodies very quickly. Later on, the ancient Egyptians began developing their own form of unnatural mummification, the point of this was to preserve the bodies so they would continue looking life like. They did this by embalming the bodies and wrapping in linen strips.

Why do you think ancient Egyptians took such care to embalm their dead if the desert could do the job for them.
Because the Egyptians wanted their dead to remain looking life like and the desert couldn't do this for them. Also the main reason was in order to protect the bodies form wild animals.


Words that I don't know from the article:
Cadavers: The dead body of a human being.
Chinchorro: A group of ancient people from Chile.

No comments:

Post a Comment