Mummies and Mummification

One of the natural forms of preservahon of dead remains is mummification a mummy is simply the body of a dead animal whose tissues have been diage-netically altered but whose morphology and structure have been preserved. Although the term mummification is generally used in relation to the purposeful preservation of dead humans and animals, it actually has a wider meaning - it also refers to the natural preservation of dead corpses (see Fig. 81). 

Dead bodies can be naturally mummified xmder a variety of environmental conditions, such as (1) at extremely low temperatures, about and below the freezing point of water, in extremely cold regions of the world (2) in very dry and hot environments, as in desert areas and in some caves and rock shelters or (3) under anaerobic (oxygen-free) conditions, as in bogs (see Chapter 8). 

Archaeological Chemistry, Second Edition By Zvi Goffer Copyright 2007 John Wiley Sons, Inc. 

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Such methods also make it possible to learn about the state of health of the dead before death, the diseases from which they suffered, their age at the time of death, the method used for their mummification, and even the cultural environment in which they lived and were mummified (Cockbum et al. 1998 Harris and Wente 1980). The conception and development of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) at the end of the twentieth century made it also possible to study the genetic characteristics of the mummies and of the populations to which they belonged (see Textbox 65). 

Bereuter, T. L., Lorbeer, E., Reiter, C., Seidler, H., and Unterdorfer, H. (1996). Postmortem alterations of human lipids—Part I Evaluation of adipocere formation and mummification by desiccation, in Human Mummies A Global Survey of Their Status and the Techniques of Conservation (K. Spindler, Ed.). New York Wien, 265-273. 

Because cadavers comprise 60%-80% water their breakdown has been described as a competition between desiccation and decomposition (Auf-derheide 1981). The relationship between these processes is important because rapid desiccation can inhibit decomposition and result in the natural preservation of a cadaver for thousands of years, such as the natural mummies observed in Egypt (Ruffer 1921) and Peru (Allison 1979). Sledzik and Micozzi (1997) distinguished three types of mummification natural, intentional, and artificial. Dryness, heat, or absence of air may cause natural mummification. Intentional mummification is the result of exploitation or enhancement of natural mummification processes. Artificial mummification may be the result of evisceration, fire, or smoke curing and the application of embalming substances. 

The main uses of bitumen were as a waterproofing material and an adhesive in antiquity. The pigment mummy (q.v.) may well have been adulterated with bitumen (Woodcock, 1996) as the use of this material was minor in Ancient Egyptian mummification processes. Its uses as a pigment (as separate fiom asphalt ) are less well attested, in that it was not of the accepted hard and pure quahty of the Dead Sea asphaltites. 

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