Humans have thought about the continuation of life. Ancient Egyptians are known for their elaborate funerary rituals. The mummies of ancient Egypt are at least 3,500 years old. There are mummies in all over the world.
Some mummies give a glimpse into ancient cultures. What people found important, their spiritual symbols, and what they believed happened after death are revealed by mummies. What these ancient people ate, what diseases they suffered, and what killed them can all be revealed through autopsies.
Seven famous mummies carried their secrets to the tomb and back out again.
Austrian authorities thought they had found a modern mountaineer when they discovered the mummy of tzi the Iceman. They realized he was from the Copper Age after the iceman was cut in half.
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tzi was found in a mountain pass above the tztal Valley. He lived at a time when Europe was beginning to develop a complex social hierarchy. tzi died after being shot with an arrow and sustaining a head injury in his last moments.
The man's mummy has a lot of information. His genes show that he was born in Central Europe and his stomach contents show he ate ibex meat. He was in his 40's and had arthritis, narrowing arteries and parasites, but he was likely to have used medicine to treat it. It's anyone's guess if he was preparing for a fight or just preparing his tools for routine work, but we do know that he sharpened his tools days before his death.
The Tollund Man may be proof of sacrifice. The exquisitely preserved mummy belongs to a man who lived during the Iron Age. Tollund Man's eyes and mouth were closed as he was laid to rest in a fetal position, according to Museum Silkeborg. The "human sacrifice" theory is supported by the fact that most people in this period were cremated.
Tollund Man was between 30 and 40 years old when he died, and was at least 5 feet 4 inches tall, presuming he was a bit taller. He had the rope used to hang him around his neck and was wearing a leather belt.
King Tut is perhaps the most famous mummy. At the age of 19, the young pharaoh died. The opening of his tomb in 1922 was an international sensation due to the fact that it had not been loot. One of the coffins was made of gold.
The mummy of King Tut sheds light on practices and cultural changes around the time he died, as well as revealing the mystery of his parents. Scientists used genetic analysis to identify Tut's father and mother, who are unknown. The pharaoh had a rare bone disorder in his foot that may have made it hard to get around. He probably died from either malaria or another disease.
Some archaeologists argue that Tut's penis was mummified in an erect position in order to reject religious reforms made by his father. Tutankhamun's erect penis reminded him of Osiris, the god of fertility, resurrection and the afterlife. Isis gathers the parts of Osiris' body, including the penis, and gives birth to their son Horus. The failure of his father's religious reforms may have been connected to Tut's mummification.
Leathery and desiccated mummies are the norm. "Lady Dai" is not the name of the person. The well-off lady who lived during the Han dynasty in China was found in 1971 in an elaborate tomb. Her corpse was preserved in a state of pristine preservation because the conditions of her interment created a nearly oxygen-free environment. She had a full head of hair and her limbs were flexible.
The mummy, which dates back to 168 B.C., is currently held by the Hunan Museum in China, along with hundreds of items that were buried with her corpse. Musical instruments and exquisitely painted silks are included. Archaeologists know from records in the tomb that the wife of the Marquis of Dai, Li Cang, was, in fact, the wife of another person. A tomb holding the body of a man thought to be the marquis' brother or son was next to the marquis' grave.
According to Archaeology magazine, scientists were able to conduct a full autopsy on the corpse. She died from a heart attack at about 50 years old.
The oldest known human-made mummies in the world are the Chinchorro mummies, which were found in modern-dayChile.
The mummies were prepared the same way as any royal in ancient Egypt. Their muscles were taken from the bones. The reassembled bodies were made with clay and reeds. Black or red paint was used on the skin. The wigs and masks were used for the postmortem treatment.
The Chinchorro people who made these mummies lived in the desert and left no written records, so the lovingly preserved dead give a rare glimpse into their beliefs and culture. Even stillborn children were mummified by the Chinchorro.
The Chinchorro paid particular attention to the people who never achieved their potential, according to anthropologists. Life as a mummy might have been seen as a second chance by the Chinchorro.
Ramses II ruled Egypt for over six decades. Between 1303 B.C. and 1213 B.C. the pharaoh oversaw military campaigns to secure new territory and funded elaborate building projects along the Nile. An 83-ton granite statue of the king is one of the many artifacts of Ramses' reign.
The modern era had some postmortem drama. Priests relocated royal mummies to protect them from looters as the New Kingdom began to fall. According to the American Research Center in Egypt, the priests may have wanted to pick apart the tombs for gold and raw materials, which were in short supply at the time. A record of Ramses II's journeys was written on his wrappings after he was found in a plain coffin in a cache of royal mummies.
Ramses II was over 6 feet tall according to the museum. He died at the age of ninety. The research shows that the king had a bone condition called diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis, which causes the ligaments near the spine to stiffen. There is a mummy at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.
The woman in question was probably an important one. She was a member of the ancient Pazyryk culture and lived in Siberia in the 5th century B.C. In 1993 her tomb was found in Russia's Republic of Altai and she was buried in a grand larch coffin with six horses nearby.
According to a 1998 NOVA documentary, the Ukok Princess was 25 years old when she died. She was stuffed with animal fur and had her brain and eyes removed. Her body was adorned with felt headdress festooned with gold- plated carvings. She wore a wool-and-camel-hair dress with bright colors. The maiden's tattoos include a deer's head, a spotted panther, and a leaping deer with a griffin's beak.
The Pazyryk people lived in the 6th and 3rd century BC. Her blouse was made of wild silk that may have come all the way from India around 2,400 years ago.
It was originally published on Live Science
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