Ancient Egypt has long been known for its strong beliefs in preparation for the afterlife, especially for its ruling and elite populations. Often, this included large monuments being built and tombs filled with material goods, foods, and anything else one might need in the afterlife. Most important, however, was the way the body of the elite themselves were treated before and during burial and what this meant for how ancient Egyptians thought about life after death. Part of ancient Egyptian belief of the afterlife was that from time to time, parts of the soul would come back to the body for offerings left there and that they needed to be able to recognize themselves, so they were artificially mummified.
The exact methods of artificial mummification have been a point of interest for scholars for many years. Surviving documentation from ancient Egyptian times on the mummification process are very rare and are. These include some papyri that describe ritual elements that would accompany embalming and scenes etched on to a Late Period coffin. Examining mummies and learning about the ways ancient Egyptians treated their dead tells scholars a lot about the respect, or lack thereof, they held for them; the economy at the time of burial; and the ideals or beliefs of the mortuary cults that buried and worshiped them.
I intend to focus more specifically on the differences and similarities of mortuary practices in different periods of ancient Egypt and look at what those practices say about how the ideology of mortuary cults and the economy changed over time. While I have not chosen which specimen to research specifically, I plan to look at specimen from at least two periods, focusing on what techniques were used and where the processes focused most on.
One of the sources I’ve chosen to use is “A Synthetic Radiological Study of Brain Treatment in Ancient Egyptian Mummies” from the Journal of Comparative Human Biology. This document is very useful since it looks specifically at the brain and three primary methods of treatment during the mummification process: transnasal craniotomy, transforaminal craniotomy, and the absence of excerebation. The authors of the article looked both at mummies in a literature-based sample, with links included, and a directly observed sample.
Another source, “Replication of Ancient Egyptian Osteotomies of the Facial Skeleton” looks at a mummified head found in the tomb of Djehutynakht. Computer tomography was used to examine the skull and revealed how the brain had been removed and that there were mutilations of the facial skeleton. The article also looked at what these things said about the funerary cults that prepared the body.
My third source, “Raman Spectroscopy of natron: Shedding Light on Ancient Egyptian Mummification,” looks at the use of natron, a naturally occurring evaporitic mineral, in the mummification process. It was believed that natron was used to rapidly remove water from the body and prevent a microbial attack before the body was treated with resins. The article looked at several specimens of natron collected from the Wadi Natrun, something, and used Raman spectroscopy to examine their compositions and look for cyanobacterial colonies. This may be useful in looking at where the mineral was collected during certain periods and what that says about the funerary cults.
Wade, Andrew D., Nelson, Andrew J., Garvin, Greg J.
2011 A Synthetic Radiological Study of Brain Treatment in Ancient Egyptian Mummies. Journal of Comparative Human Biology 62(4):248-269. DOI: 10.1016/j.jchb.2011.01.004, accessed October 25, 2018.
Edwards, H. G. M., Currie, K. J., Ali, H. R. H., Jorge Villar, S. E., David, A., Denton, J.
2007 Raman Spectroscopy of natron: shedding light on ancient Egyptian mummification. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 388(3):683-689. DOI:10.1007/s00216-007-1249-4, accessed October 25, 2018.
Kaban, L.B., Gupta, R., Chapman, P.H., Peacock, Z.S.
2011 Replication of Ancient Egyptian Osteotomies of the Facial Skeleton: Insights into the Mummification Process. International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery 40(11):1301-1306. DOI:10.1016/j.ijom.2011.05.017, accessed October 25, 2018.
I think your paper will yield fascinating results since you’re planning on comparing to different periods of ancient Egypt. Will you also be focusing on different parts of ancient Egypt and how different areas during those periods may have had alternative mortuary or embalming practices? That could be an interesting facet of your research paper as well. I also think that looking back at the surviving documentation will give you a good insight into ancient Egyptian mummification processes. It’ll also be fairly interesting to see how the economy may have changed their mortuary practices over time.
Whether or not you are planning on focusing on the more medical or physical anthropology side to mortuary practices as your sources incline or more of the cultural side of the practices will be interesting to see. They are entirely different sides to the same question but will yield much different results. Trying to fit both of them together may prove to be difficult as they are focused on two different disciplines but I think your paper will be interesting non the less. The various funerary cults will be fascinating to research how their culture changed throughout the periods and even in different economic climates.