We May Have Been All Wrong About Ancient Egyptian Mummies, Scholars Argue

Experts say that mummies may not have been intended to preserve the remains of ancient Egyptians after their deaths.

An increasing number of archaeologists say that the effects of mummification may have been accidental and blame early modern Egyptologists for spreading a misunderstanding.

The theory is that mummification was meant to alter the bodies in a way that didn't rely on the popular belief that the bodies would be resurrected.

The experts say that the Egyptians wanted to turn their pharaohs into statues.

According to the Egyptologists, the Victorians who first studied mummies had a morbid fascination with the afterlife.

According to the approach, Egyptians believed that kings and queens were gods and that turning their bodies into statues was a way to restore their rightful form.

The golden masks found in the sarcophagi of royals would be idealized god-like versions of the dead.

Campbell Price is a curator at the Manchester Museum in the United Kingdom.

In an interview with Insider, Price said that the idea of the spirit returning to the body isn't as explicit as you might think.

The approach will be explored in an upcoming exhibition at the Manchester Museum. A book written by Price accompanies it.

The mummies of some of the ruling classes don't seem to care about preservation.

King Tutankhamun was stuck to the bottom of his coffin.

He wasn't well preserved because the ancient Egyptians didn't know what they were doing.

He supports the alternate theory that the intention was never to create a recognizable image.

Ancient Egyptians thought statues were good.

There is a world of people who go about their daily lives. There are statues, reliefs, and paintings in the world. It's not just an idealized version of Egypt, it's an image of gods.

Statues of gods may have been anointed with oils and perfumes. It could be that the bandages were thought to confer some sort of divine power.

By placing organs in jars adorned with the heads of gods, Egyptians may have intended to bring the dead royal's spirit back to life.

Some people disagree that the preservation aspect of mummification should be removed.

It was important that the body was preserved. Stephen Buckley is an analytical chemist at the University of York.

Some mummies look like statues.

Buckley said that Tuthmosis III, Tuthmosis IV, Amenhotep II, and Queen Tyi were all mummified to look like they were asleep.

"Perhaps so the soul could recognize themselves and therefore have a'home' to return to occasionally," he said.

Buckley said that mummification was not only about preservation, but that it needed to be discounted completely.

If Price is correct, how did we get it so messed up?

The Victorians had a good idea of life after death.

The assumptions of Victorian upper-middle-class white, cis- gendered, bearded men are what make up a lot of what we say about ancient Egypt.

Price said that the interpretations were repeated and repeated.

There is a lot of un thinking to be done.

The original article was published by Business Insider.