Mummification

Deem, James. Mummification in Egypt, Mummy Tombs Web Site. Available online. URL http //www.mummytombs.com/ egypt/methods.htm. Accessed on March 17, 2008. 

One of the natural forms of preservation 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). 

The terms embalming and mummification are often employed as synonyms to refer to the deliberate preservation of corpses so that they keep, as much as possible, their lifelike appearance. To embalm or mummify a dead body is to preserve it by artificial, chemical means. Dehydratation, the removal of water, for example, provides suitable conditions for the preservation of organic mater in general and of corpses in particular many ancient corpses have been mummified by dehydration. In some ancient societies, after the corpse was dry it was impregnated or filled with aromatic substances, usually known as balms, such as molten resin, pitch, or tar, preventing it from becoming unsightly. 

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). 

David, A. R. (2000), Mummification, in Nicholson, P. T. and I. Shaw (eds.), Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK. 

Weser, U. and Y. Kaup (2002), Borate, an effective mummification agent in Pharaonic Egypt, Zeitschrift fur Naturforschung B 57(7), 819-822. 

Nevertheless, there are some vegetable oils that have a very specific composition. For example, castor oil consists of large amounts (83 89%) of 12-hydroxy-(Z)-9-octadecenoic acid (ricinoleic acid) which is not found in other natural lipids [21]. Ricinoleic acid produces a very characteristic oxidation product, 9,12-dihydroxyoctadecanoic acid [43], and both of these compounds can be considered as specific biomarkers for castor oil and have been used to assess its presence in ceramic lamps [43] and mummification balms [23]. 

Bitumen, asphalt, and other fossil organic materials such as coal, lignite and peat are found as natural deposits and have practically always been used in arts and handicrafts. Bitumen and asphalt were used in medicines and cosmetics, as pigments, as adhesives and in mummification balms in ancient Egypt [2,159,160]. 

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It used to be thought that the survival of organic remains was only to be expected in a limited number of unusual preservational environments, such as extreme aridity, cold, or waterlogging, or as a result of deliberate action such as mummification. With more sensitive analytical techniques, however, the preservation of a wide range of biomolecules has now been demonstrated in a much wider range of far less exceptional archaeological contexts. 

Even so, the bitumen is a very old material. They were used in the waterproofing of the cradle that baby Moses was floated in. It was used by the ancient Egyptians in their mummification process. Bitumens were used in sand stabilization and for lighting the naval base by the Second Muslim Caliph, Omar ben Khattab, at Basra on Shattul-Arab on the West Coast of what is now Saudi Arabia around a.d. 640. 

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