Global InformationMummy information
A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay further if kept in cool and dry conditions. Some authorities restrict the use of the term to bodies deliberately embalmed with chemicals, but the use of the word to cover accidentally desiccated bodies goes back to at least the early 17th century.
Mummies of humans and animals have been found on every continent, both as a result of natural preservation through unusual conditions, and as cultural artifacts. Over one million animal mummies have been found in Egypt, many of which are cats.[1] Many of the Egyptian animal mummies are sacred ibis, and radiocarbon dating suggests the Egyptian ibis mummies that have been analyzed were from a time frame that falls between approximately 450 and 250 BC.[2]
In addition to the mummies of ancient Egypt, deliberate mummification was a feature of several ancient cultures in areas of America and Asia with very dry climates. The Spirit Cave mummies of Fallon, Nevada, in North America were accurately dated at more than 9,400 years old. Before this discovery, the oldest known deliberate mummy was a child, one of the Chinchorro mummies found in the Camarones Valley, Chile, which dates around 5050 BC.[3] The oldest known naturally mummified human corpse is a severed head dated as 6,000 years old, found in 1936 AD at the site named Inca Cueva No. 4 in South America.[4]
- ^ "Egyptian Animals Were Mummified Same Way as Humans". news.nationalgeographic.com. 15 September 2004. Archived from the original on 17 September 2004. Retrieved 2 November 2008.
- ^ Wasef, S.; Wood, R.; Merghani, S. El; Ikram, S.; Curtis, C.; Holland, B.; Willerslev, E.; Millar, C.D.; Lambert, D.M. (2015). "Radiocarbon dating of Sacred Ibis mummies from ancient Egypt". Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 4: 355–361. Bibcode:2015JArSR...4..355W. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2015.09.020.
- ^ Bartkusa, Luke; Amarasiriwardena, Dulasiri; Arriaza, Bernardo; Bellis, David; Yañez, Jorge (2011). "Exploring lead exposure in ancient Chilean mummies using a single strand of hair by laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS)". Microchemical Journal. 98 (2): 267–274. doi:10.1016/j.microc.2011.02.008. hdl:10533/131649. ISSN 0026-265X.
- ^ "Andean Head Dated 6,000 Years Old". archaeometry.org. Retrieved 20 February 2009.