The Egyptian mummies
Beginning of 2000 a team of researchers, led by Prof. Stephen Buckley of the University of Bristol, using the tools of modern analytical chemistry, has examined as many as 13 mummies from different periods, spanning entirely the first and second millennia B.C.
In ancient Egypt, the mummification of corpses was due to their religious beliefs that identified, in each individual, three vital aspects:
- the Ankh, the vital principle;
- the Ba, the spiritual soul;
- and the Ka, life as such.
Added to these was the Name, without which the individual (or even the thing) could not exist. The deceased, once he passed the examination of the weighing of the heart, which had to be as light as Maat's feather, and declared that he had never done as many as thirty different "sins," had to cross the Duat. At the end of the journey into the Realm of the Dead, his Ka would then return by passing through the "false door" and reviving the physical body, which therefore had to be preserved, fitted with amulets and provided with food and drink for his long journey. Also essential was the presence of his name. Erase it (as was done for Hatshepsut and Akenaton) was not only to eliminate the memory, but to deny its owner the right to re-exist again.
The oldest mummies that have come down to us are only bodies buried in the desert, which were preserved only due to the particular climatic and soil conditions. One of these, in a crouched position on its side, is preserved in the Egyptian Museum in Turin.
Later, embalming techniques became increasingly refined, reaching their peak during the New Kingdom. These were secret procedures, jealously guarded by the embalmers' guild, and nothing written has remained on the subject. What we know has only come to us from Herodotus. However, today's non-invasive physical/chemical technologies of investigating mummies are making it possible to learn much about the procedures followed. Unfortunately, there are numerous deposits of mummies looted in the past. Many were destroyed to obtain the famous "mummy dust" to which, in the 6/700s, special magical powers were attributed. Others were even used as fuel, given the scarcity of wood and coal, for Egyptian train steamers. To our knowledge, mummification procedures differed according to the class of the deceased. In every case, however, sand from the Natron valley, located between Alexandria and the Al-Qattara depression, was used. This was rich in a mineral salt, now known as saltpeter, which has great dehydrating power. In the simplest mummification procedure, for the poor people, the body was simply immersed in the natron, where it was left for 10 to 15 days, then washed and covered with essential oils and then bandaged. For the middle class, the body was first eviscerated, and immersed in saltpeter for at least 30 days. For those of higher lineage, including Pharaohs, the mummification period lasted at least 70 days. The brain, which was given no value, was extracted with hooks from the nasal cavities, and the inside of the skull was washed with liquids that would remove the remaining parts. The heart was left in place (it had to be weighed!) and the other viscera, also washed and dehydrated, collected and divided into the canopic vessels named after the four sons of Horus: jackal-headed Duamtef contained the stomach, baboon-headed Hapy the lungs, human-headed Amset the liver and hawk-headed Kebehsenuf the intestines.
Subsequent dehydration in natron, in this case, lasted at least two months. Then the body was cleansed and, in a special ceremony, washed in Nile water and then with date wine. As Herodotus reports, the abdominal cavity was then filled with crushed vegetables, such as myrrh, cassia and other aromas with religious significance and antibacterial effects, and, in the eye sockets, onions were often inserted. The corpse was then sprinkled with resins and essential oils and then wrapped in bandages impregnated with gummy substances, between which were inserted amulets of protection for the journey into the Duat. The bandages could also have contrasting colors to create special effects. The sex of the mummy was then indicated by the position of the arms: crossed over the chest for males, with one arm along the body for women. With the advent of the Romans, the practice of mummification then gradually fell into disuse.
Several interesting aspects emerge from the mummies examined by Prof. S. Buckley's team. The essential oils with which the bodies were sprinkled had hardening properties and, as they polymerized, formed a kind of cocoon designed to preserve the corpses inside their sarcophagi from any trace of moisture. Moreover, the materials used for the mummification process have undergone considerable variations over the years, such as, in recent times, the use of beeswax, which is rich in antibacterial substances. In addition, the diversity of substances used is also a useful indicator of socio/economic changes over time in ancient Egypt, both because they testify to the level of the financial dispositions of the upper classes and because they provide valuable insights into trade and import routes. Another report that appeared some time ago in the press was that traces of nicotine had been found in some mummies (Seti I, and others).
In all likelihood this was attributable to subsequent contamination. However, should this not be the case, it could constitute evidence of contact between the Egyptian world and the Americas and prove Thor Heyderdahl right, who, after his adventure with the Kon Tiki in the Pacific, crossed the Atlantic in the 1960s with a boat made of papyrus bundles that he called "Ra".
