01-21-2010, 10:05 PM
Old kingdom:
Very few mummies have been found from this period, but linen and plaster were important components. An examination of one Old Kingdom body revealed that the limbs were wrapped separately; altogether sixteen layers of linen were wound around the body. Often plaster was applied to the bandages to create a kind of "mummy sculpture." Sometimes a separate layer of plaster was added as a final layer, which created an even more statue-like look. The face would be painted onto the linen/plaster.
During the 4th Dynasty, internal organs were apparently removed for the first time. The abdomen was then packed with linen. The plaster sculpture look was generally stopped by the end of the 6th Dynasty or the beginning of the 7th Dynasty, though later examples are known, especially one in the 11th Dynasty. Sometimes rather than linen/plaster, linen/resin was used (with padding beneath with bandages); the face was then painted green (the color of resurrection, according to Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley). Old Kingdom mummies might also be dressed in linen clothes (worn over the the wrappings). The plaster and resin mummies looked great, but produced terrible mummy results--underneath the wrappings, the mummies rotted from the moisture trapped inside.
Middle Kingdom:
During this time period, many different methods of mummification were used. Mummymakers learned to remove internal organs, but not necessarily all of the main four (that were eventually removed): liver, lungs, stomach, and intestines. The heart was almost always left in the body, but there are examples of its removal and replacement (after wrapping it with linen) inside the body. The body's face was no longer painted; instead, a funerary mask was placed over the mummy's head. Some researchers suspect that one (more unusual) method of making mummies used during this a part of this time period was cedar oil enemas (strange but true), which seems to have been used at least in some mummies during the 11th Dynasty. Rather than cutting the body open to remove internal organs, mummymakers seem to have injected cedar-oil/ turpentine into the rectum; this substance would help dissolve (at least partially) the internal organs. But this method would never have been used on important people; it may well have been an economy measure.
New Kingdom:
During this time period, royal mummymakers almost always removed the brain, removed the four internal organs (they were washed and dried, painted with resin, and wrapped in linen), and coated the body with lots of resin. Sometimes when they removed the lungs, they may have accidentally removed the heart--they wrapped it up and returned it to the body. After drying the body with natron (and most likely changing the natron whenever it got moist), they would fill the body with resin-soaked linen to provide a natural shape and inhibit insects from settling in. Other non-royal mummies made during the New Kingdom show that, although the brain and the internal organs were not removed, they were well-wrapped. At least one non-royal New Kingdom mummy was also coated in beeswax possibly to help with preservation.
Third Intermediate Period:
The best royal mummymaking methods are found in the 21st Dynasty. At that time, they did their best to make a mummy as real and lifelike as possible. They removed internal organs through an incision in the abdomen (and then placed them back within the body)--then covered it with a metal plate with the design of an eye." They made numerous other incisions (apparently between five and seventeen cuts) in the skin so that the body could be padded realistically. The abdomen, the back, and the neck would be padded out (often with linen, sawdust, sand, and/or mud); so would arms, legs, buttocks, and thighs. They often placed wax over the eyelids and plugged the nose and ears with wax or linen as well. After drying and packing, the body would be painted next (red = men; yellow = women); eyes would be replaced with glass, stone, or painted linen. The entire body would then be coated with hot resin and bandaged (a 10-15 day process for the bandaging alone). Of course, this was the best method of making mummies; not everyone had the resources required for such treatment.
Late Period:
From the 22nd Dynasty on, mummymaking techniques began to decline. More and more people wanted to become mummies upon death; mummymakers began to take many shortcuts-- except in their bandaging techniques (which are extraordinary). Mummymakers used less stuffing and more molten resin which tended to turn the mummies dark and heavy. Inside, under the bandages, the bodies were not in particularly good condition. Sometimes bodies were mixed up and combined (accidentally) so that scientists have found parts or two or more people wrapped together sometimes. Internal organs were placed in canopic jars again during the 26th Dynasty. In succeeding dynasties, wrapped internal organs were placed between the mummy's legs but "dummy" canopic jars (they were empty) were used for symbolic purposes.
SOURCES: Carol Andrews' Egyptian Mummies (a very clear explanation of the mummification process and photos of such intriguing objects such as tongue plates and embalming equipment); Ikram and Dodson's The Mummy in Ancient Egypt (the best and most thorough book about Egyptian mummification, filled with photos and interesting details); Silverman's Ancient Egypt (an excellent historical summary for the general reader); Tyldesley's The Mummy (a book by one of the foremost Egyptologists).
http://www.mummytombs.com/egypt/methods.htm
Type of Resin:
Organic chemistry of embalming agents in Pharaonic and Graeco-Roman mummies
Stephen A. Buckley & Richard P. Evershed
Article:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v4 ... 837a0.html
About Perfume in Egypt:
http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/0pb1r0w3
Also helpful:
*Jstor.
Characterization of the Balm of an Egyptian Mummy from the Seventh Century B.C.
Maria Perla Colombini, Francesca Modugno, Flora Silvano and Massimo Onor
Studies in Conservation, Vol. 45, No. 1 (2000), pp. 19-29
Published by: International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works
Summary-
"An analytical procedure for the characterization of plant resins, waxes, bitumen, oils and their
degradation products in mummy balms is described. The method is based on the selective extraction of these
compounds from Ig samples with CH2Cl2 and, after drying the residue, with n-hexane, followed by a Florisil
chromatographic clean-up step of the non-polar extract and by the saponification of an aliquot of dried
CH2CI2 extract. Polar compounds were derivatized with t-butyl-dimethyl silyl trifluoroacetamide
(MTBSTFA). Quantitative determinations were obtained by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The
procedure, tested on suitable reference materials such as beeswax and plant resins, showed a recovery of about
100 o for non-polar compounds. Using this method, pine resins (P. pinea and P. sylvester), mastic resin
(Pistacia lentisca and P. terebinthus), sandarac (Tetraclinis articulata), elemi (Canarium), dammar
(Hopea), myrrh (Commiphera) and a pine resin from the second century A.D. were characterized.
Identification was based on the characteristic pattern of the diterpenoid and triterpenoid compounds contained
in these natural products. Results on Egyptian mummy samples from the seventh century B.C. were obtained
and showed that the main components used in the embalming process were mastic resin from the genus
Pistacia, an unidentified vegetable oil, beeswax and bitumen. Terpenoids degraded by a thermal treatment
were also found; therefore a hot fluid was used for embalming, confirming the practice hypothesized in the
Late period by Egyptologists"
Hope that helps!!
M.VIB.M.
Very few mummies have been found from this period, but linen and plaster were important components. An examination of one Old Kingdom body revealed that the limbs were wrapped separately; altogether sixteen layers of linen were wound around the body. Often plaster was applied to the bandages to create a kind of "mummy sculpture." Sometimes a separate layer of plaster was added as a final layer, which created an even more statue-like look. The face would be painted onto the linen/plaster.
During the 4th Dynasty, internal organs were apparently removed for the first time. The abdomen was then packed with linen. The plaster sculpture look was generally stopped by the end of the 6th Dynasty or the beginning of the 7th Dynasty, though later examples are known, especially one in the 11th Dynasty. Sometimes rather than linen/plaster, linen/resin was used (with padding beneath with bandages); the face was then painted green (the color of resurrection, according to Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley). Old Kingdom mummies might also be dressed in linen clothes (worn over the the wrappings). The plaster and resin mummies looked great, but produced terrible mummy results--underneath the wrappings, the mummies rotted from the moisture trapped inside.
Middle Kingdom:
During this time period, many different methods of mummification were used. Mummymakers learned to remove internal organs, but not necessarily all of the main four (that were eventually removed): liver, lungs, stomach, and intestines. The heart was almost always left in the body, but there are examples of its removal and replacement (after wrapping it with linen) inside the body. The body's face was no longer painted; instead, a funerary mask was placed over the mummy's head. Some researchers suspect that one (more unusual) method of making mummies used during this a part of this time period was cedar oil enemas (strange but true), which seems to have been used at least in some mummies during the 11th Dynasty. Rather than cutting the body open to remove internal organs, mummymakers seem to have injected cedar-oil/ turpentine into the rectum; this substance would help dissolve (at least partially) the internal organs. But this method would never have been used on important people; it may well have been an economy measure.
New Kingdom:
During this time period, royal mummymakers almost always removed the brain, removed the four internal organs (they were washed and dried, painted with resin, and wrapped in linen), and coated the body with lots of resin. Sometimes when they removed the lungs, they may have accidentally removed the heart--they wrapped it up and returned it to the body. After drying the body with natron (and most likely changing the natron whenever it got moist), they would fill the body with resin-soaked linen to provide a natural shape and inhibit insects from settling in. Other non-royal mummies made during the New Kingdom show that, although the brain and the internal organs were not removed, they were well-wrapped. At least one non-royal New Kingdom mummy was also coated in beeswax possibly to help with preservation.
Third Intermediate Period:
The best royal mummymaking methods are found in the 21st Dynasty. At that time, they did their best to make a mummy as real and lifelike as possible. They removed internal organs through an incision in the abdomen (and then placed them back within the body)--then covered it with a metal plate with the design of an eye." They made numerous other incisions (apparently between five and seventeen cuts) in the skin so that the body could be padded realistically. The abdomen, the back, and the neck would be padded out (often with linen, sawdust, sand, and/or mud); so would arms, legs, buttocks, and thighs. They often placed wax over the eyelids and plugged the nose and ears with wax or linen as well. After drying and packing, the body would be painted next (red = men; yellow = women); eyes would be replaced with glass, stone, or painted linen. The entire body would then be coated with hot resin and bandaged (a 10-15 day process for the bandaging alone). Of course, this was the best method of making mummies; not everyone had the resources required for such treatment.
Late Period:
From the 22nd Dynasty on, mummymaking techniques began to decline. More and more people wanted to become mummies upon death; mummymakers began to take many shortcuts-- except in their bandaging techniques (which are extraordinary). Mummymakers used less stuffing and more molten resin which tended to turn the mummies dark and heavy. Inside, under the bandages, the bodies were not in particularly good condition. Sometimes bodies were mixed up and combined (accidentally) so that scientists have found parts or two or more people wrapped together sometimes. Internal organs were placed in canopic jars again during the 26th Dynasty. In succeeding dynasties, wrapped internal organs were placed between the mummy's legs but "dummy" canopic jars (they were empty) were used for symbolic purposes.
SOURCES: Carol Andrews' Egyptian Mummies (a very clear explanation of the mummification process and photos of such intriguing objects such as tongue plates and embalming equipment); Ikram and Dodson's The Mummy in Ancient Egypt (the best and most thorough book about Egyptian mummification, filled with photos and interesting details); Silverman's Ancient Egypt (an excellent historical summary for the general reader); Tyldesley's The Mummy (a book by one of the foremost Egyptologists).
http://www.mummytombs.com/egypt/methods.htm
Type of Resin:
Organic chemistry of embalming agents in Pharaonic and Graeco-Roman mummies
Stephen A. Buckley & Richard P. Evershed
Article:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v4 ... 837a0.html
About Perfume in Egypt:
http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/0pb1r0w3
Also helpful:
*Jstor.
Characterization of the Balm of an Egyptian Mummy from the Seventh Century B.C.
Maria Perla Colombini, Francesca Modugno, Flora Silvano and Massimo Onor
Studies in Conservation, Vol. 45, No. 1 (2000), pp. 19-29
Published by: International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works
Summary-
"An analytical procedure for the characterization of plant resins, waxes, bitumen, oils and their
degradation products in mummy balms is described. The method is based on the selective extraction of these
compounds from Ig samples with CH2Cl2 and, after drying the residue, with n-hexane, followed by a Florisil
chromatographic clean-up step of the non-polar extract and by the saponification of an aliquot of dried
CH2CI2 extract. Polar compounds were derivatized with t-butyl-dimethyl silyl trifluoroacetamide
(MTBSTFA). Quantitative determinations were obtained by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The
procedure, tested on suitable reference materials such as beeswax and plant resins, showed a recovery of about
100 o for non-polar compounds. Using this method, pine resins (P. pinea and P. sylvester), mastic resin
(Pistacia lentisca and P. terebinthus), sandarac (Tetraclinis articulata), elemi (Canarium), dammar
(Hopea), myrrh (Commiphera) and a pine resin from the second century A.D. were characterized.
Identification was based on the characteristic pattern of the diterpenoid and triterpenoid compounds contained
in these natural products. Results on Egyptian mummy samples from the seventh century B.C. were obtained
and showed that the main components used in the embalming process were mastic resin from the genus
Pistacia, an unidentified vegetable oil, beeswax and bitumen. Terpenoids degraded by a thermal treatment
were also found; therefore a hot fluid was used for embalming, confirming the practice hypothesized in the
Late period by Egyptologists"
Hope that helps!!
M.VIB.M.
Bushido wa watashi no shuukyou de gozaru.
Katte Kabuto no O wo shimeyo!
H.J.Vrielink.
Katte Kabuto no O wo shimeyo!
H.J.Vrielink.
