NY Times Article: by Associated Press, April 2, 2003.
Mummies
What do all of these pictures have in common? Brainstorm and think about these pictures. What is a mummy? Where are they found? Why did ancient people mummify their loved ones? How are they mummified? These are all questions that by the end of the class should we should be able to answer.
Before we start let's check out this site and see how our names would be spelled in the Egyptian Hieroglyphics!
II. Purpose
SWBAT: click here
III. Lecture/Discussion
A mummy is a person that has died and gone through the process of mummification to preserve their body for the afterlife. Mummification for many ancient cultures, especially Ancient Egypt, was a very detailed process that involved removing body parts and placing them in canopic jars, click here to see a picture of them. All of the organs except for the heart were removed, Egyptians felt that the heart contained the soul of the body. The brain was then removed through the nose, the doctors would have to break through bone to get to it. After that the body was packed with salts and left to dry for 40 days or more. The body was then soaked in oil and covered with pine resin and finally wrapped in strips of cloth and ready to be burried for enternity. Not all mummies were made this way, we will see examples of mummies who were made from being buried in dry climates or even in marshy areas, which have chemicals or the right climate to make mummies.
One of the first mummies we will talk about is the Bog mummies. Mummies that were found in peat bogs were preserved naturally due to chemicals in the soil that help dry out the body. They have been found in Denmark, Germant, Ireland, Scotland, England, Sweden and the Netherlands. Mummies that are found in ice chunks is another way of natural preservation. Click here for a picture of bog nummies. This man is so well preserved that you can even see the facial hairs and wrinkles of his face.
The other type of mummies are those that have been preserved, they are mostly found in Egypt and South America. These people often preserved their dead for religious or cultural reasons. The Ancient Egyptians believed in an afterlife, so they prepared the bodies for the next step in their life.
You are probably wondering why scientists would want to study mummies. Mummies are a way for us to look into the past and see what life was like thousands of years ago. With advancements in technology scientists are using better methods to find out more clues about their past. Some of the methods they use are X-Ray, CT Scan, DNA testing and radio carbon dating.
IV. Practice/Application
1. Unlike religions today, the Egyptians worshiped many gods, and their religion was considered Pagan. If you don't believe they had a lot of gods take a look at this site and see for yourself!
2. Although many feel that the English language is highly complex we can see that the Egyptian language is far harder. They did not use letter in their language, rather they used pictures. Earlier with our bell ringer we translated our names into Hieroglyphics, now we are going to take a closer look at the Egyptian Alphabet, and the sounds they produce. Click here.
3. Now that we have learned all of this information about mummies we are going to check out this site, where we will actually play the role of an assistant in the process of a mummification. I hope you remember all the steps that we have talked about in the mummification process! Click here to start!