HowStuffWorks "How Mummies Work"

[http://www.howstuffworks.com/] SUBSCRIBE Adventure Animals Auto Culture Entertainment Health Home & Garden Lifestyle Money Science Tech Video Shows Quizzes Engineering Environmental Science Forces of Nature Innovation Life Science Military Physical Science Dictionary Science Vs. Myth Space Transportation Home / Science / Physical Science / Forensic Science How Mummies Work by Tom Harris Page 1 Introduction to How Mummies Work 2 Egyptian Mummification 3 Egyptian Mummification: Embalming 4 Egyptian Mummification: Drying and Wrapping Mummy Image Gallery Mummy Image Gallery An open mummy case reveals mummified remains inside. See more mummy pictures . Up Next Was there really a curse on King Tutankhamen's tomb? What if I wanted to build a Great Pyramid today? Along with Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and the Wolfman, the mummy is one of the great figures of the classic horror-movie genre. And it's easy to see why: In a sense, mummies are real-life, tangible ghosts. They are bodies that stick around long after death. 足The most familiar mummies, of course, are the carefully wrapped bodies of ancient Egypt . These figures are only one subsection of the world's mummy population , however. In the past 200 years, scientists, adventurers and capitalists have discov足ered ancient mummies in diverse locales all around the world. In this article, we'll meet some of these mummies to see how and why they were so carefully preserved. We'll also look at some natural mummies and examine how the world's mummies help us understand human history. What is a mummy? A mummy is simply a human being whose soft tissue has been preserved long after death. Ordinarily, when a person dies, the decomposition process reduces the body to a bare skeleton in a matter of months. The rate of decomposition is dependent on a number of factors, chiefly the nature of the surrounding environment. In most environments, the first stages of decomposition begin within a few hours. In this initial stage, called autolysis , organs that contain digestive enzymes (the intestines, for example) begin to digest themselves . Autolysis is followed by putrefaction , the breakdown of organic matter by bacteria . In normal, temperate circumstances, putrefaction gets going about three days after death. Within a few months, the body is reduced to a skeleton. In hotter, more humid environments, this process is accelerated, because bacteria reproduce rapidly in such conditions. In colder, drier conditions, the process is slowed, because bacteria need heat and water to thrive (this is why we use refrigerators to preserve food ). If the conditions are cold or dry enough, or if there isn't enough oxygen, the environment is so harsh that few bacteria can survive. In this case, the body will not fully decompose, possibly for thousands of years. There are many circumstances that can lead to such a mummy. In nature, bodies have been preserved in the frozen ice of glaciers , the oxygen-depleted depths of peat bogs and the arid ground of the desert . The "Iceman" discovered in 1991 by tourists in the Italian Alps is one of the most amazing natural mummies. The 5,300-year-old corpse, found with perfectly preserved tools, died in a rocky hollow that quickly filled up with snow. Essentially, this created a natural freezer that preserved the body's tissues. This mummy has provided historians with a great deal of information about Europe's Copper Age, including representative technology, human health and tattooing practices. In some cases, natural mummies have significantly altered our conception of history. Mummies found in China's Taklimakan Desert have provided several clues to the lineage of modern natives of this region. The structure of the mummies' faces shows they were of Indo-European descent. One man, who lived around 1000 B.C., has a distinctive sunray tattoo on his temple, similar to an ancient symbol for an Indo-Iranian god. This, along with other evidence preserved with the mummies, indicates that the region was settled by Indo-European traders, centuries before the Han Chinese arrived in the area. 足These mummies were created by the hot sand surrounding them in their graves. When bodies are buried in hot sand, without any protective structure, the sand can absorb the body's fluids, completely desiccating it. This natural mummification process also occurred in the oldest Egyptian graves. When a body was buried in the Egyptian desert, the internal organs were preserved and the skin was crisped to a dark, hard shell. This phenomenon had a profound effect on the ancient Egyptians: The idea that the human body could survive long past death indicated to them that the human spirit could too. In the next section, we'll see how these early natural mummies led to the Egyptians' infamous artificial mummification process. Launch Video Print Cite This! Close Please copy/paste the following text to properly cite this HowStuffWorks article: Harris, Tom. "How Mummies Work" 24 April 2001. HowStuffWorks.com. 17 August 2014. Citation & Date Feedback Page 1 Introduction to How Mummies Work 2 Egyptian Mummification 3 Egyptian Mummification: Embalming 4 Egyptian Mummification: Drying and Wrapping 5 Other Ancient Mummies 6 Modern Mummies 7 Lots More Information More To Explore All Things Science 10 Incredible Wind Power Facts 10 Remarkable Exoplanets Fact or Fiction: Earthquakes Top 10 Things That Women Invented Strange, Spooky, Scary: The Supernatural Quiz Watch 100 Greatest Discoveries videos » You Might Also Like How Laser Communication Works When speed is everything and light marks the universe's speed limit, lasers are bound to be the answer. At least, that's what NASA and a bunch of Wall Street types are betting on. How Alcohol Works About two-thirds of all adults partake in this mind-altering substance, yet many do not consider it a drug. But if you've ever seen someone who's had too much to drink, you know that alcohol has profound effects on the mind and body. Popular Articles Quiz: Tessellate This! Building the Future: Oceanic Wind Turbines How Crime Scene Investigation Works Most Popular Most Watched Most Popular 10 Reasons Why Tesla Is a Scientific God Strange, Spooky, Scary: The Supernatural Quiz 10 Heaviest Objects Mankind Has Ever Moved How Hydraulic Machines Work 10 Correlations That Are Not Causations Most Watched How to Make (Almost) Everything Understanding Bridges How do they do it? Why aren't the keys on my computer in alphabetical order? The Most Important Things So Far, Seriously Don't Miss Stuff You Should Know: Demystifying Your World Stuff Mom Never Told You: All Things Women and Gender Stuff You Missed in History Class: Fact or Fiction? CHECK OUT OUR PODCASTS HOWSTUFFWORKS NEWSLETTER THE LATEST AND GREATEST SUBSCRIBE HOWSTUFFWORKS Adventure Animals Auto Culture Entertainment Health Home & Garden Lifestyle Money Science Tech MORE STUFF Blogs HSW Tools RSS Maps Podcasts Quizzes Newsletters Video HSW Brazil HSW China STUFF WEBSITES BrainStuff CarStuff Fw:Thinking Stuff Mom Never Told You Stuff of Genius Stuff They Don't Want You to Know Stuff to Blow Your Mind Stuff You Missed in History Class Stuff You Should Know CUSTOMER SERVICE Advertising Contact Us Help CORPORATE About Us Careers @ HSW Privacy Policy Visitor Agreement TAKE US WITH YOU FOLLOW US Copyright © 1998-2014 HowStuffWorks, a division of InfoSpace LLC