| Pharaohs |
|
 Did you know
that not all mummies of the Egyptian pharaohs have been discovered? Visit
the Mummies of the Pharaohs to
discover the facts.
Topics to research:
Look into the impact that graverobbing had on
Egyptian mummies (and the pharaoh mummies).
|
| Dynasties |
|
 Did you know
that the Egyptians practiced
artificial mummification for over 3,000 years (they stopped about 2,000
years ago)? Before that, the Egyptians buried their dead in desert
cemeteries, where certain conditions often turned the dead body into a
natural (or accidental) mummy. To see how long the Egyptians made
mummies and the number of pharaohs they had, visit the Dynasties
page.
Topics to research:
Compare a natural Egyptian mummy to an artificial Egyptian mummy. How were they different?
How were they similar?
|
| Mummification
in Egypt |
|
 Did
you know that Egyptians made mummies using many different
techniques? The Egyptian mummymakers made improvements (and non-improvements) so there are
literally hundreds (if not thousands) of ways that Egyptians used to make mummies. You may
have read that ancient Egyptians used natron (a natural salt, composed of sodium carbonate
and sodium bicarbonate with traces of sodium chloride and sodium sulfate) to dry and
preserve their dead. This is true--but only for part of the 3,000 years. So
if you are writing a report for school, remember: there wasn't just one way to make a mummy--and
every technique the Egyptians tried didn't produce a mummy (perhaps all they got
was a bundle of bones). They may have even made a few honey mummies, though none
are now known to exist. Read
Mummymaking Methods.
Topics to research:
Describe how the Egyptians changed their mummymaking
techniques over the 3,000 years. Choose two or three of the techniques they used and
describe the results they received.
|
| Inside
Egyptian Mummies |
 Did you know
that the canopic jars (used for storing some of the
internal organs) changed their appearance over time? That is, the
Egyptians used different types of canopic jars during the
3,000-plus years that they made mummies. Check out a brief history
in Mummymaking Methods and
for information about what happened to the body parts during
mummification, read Inside Mummies.
You will discover that Egyptian
mummymakers sometimes stuffed the body with various materials and
did other interesting things (the brain hook!) to the appendages
and organs.
Topics to
research:
At one point (but only for awhile) the canopic jar
lids represented the Four Sons of Horus; you might want to research who Horus
was. At another point, "dummy" canopic jars (that remained
empty) were used; where did the internal organs go? You might want to describe
how canopic jars and their uses changed over time.
Topics to research:
Discuss the materials used to stuff various parts of the
body.
|
| Animal
Mummies |
|
 Did you know
that ancient Egyptians mummified animals as well as humans?
They probably made more ibis mummies than any other type of animal mummy--but cat mummies are a
close second. They are also the saddest type of Egyptian animal mummy, according
to many Egyptologists. Go to Animal
Mummies for
the details.
Topics to research:
Why did Ancient Egyptians sometimes mummify animals? HINT: there
was more than one reason.
|
| Primary
Source: Herodotus and Diodorus |
|
 Did
you know that there was more
than one way to make a mummy? Go to Herodotus
or Diodorus for a primary source who provided details
about Egyptian mummification methods.
Topics to research:
Discuss when
Herodotus wrote and during what period of time Egyptians
mummified their dead according to the techniques he discussed.
|
| King Tut's Tomb |
 Did
you know that some people
believed that there was a curse related to King Tut's tomb? For
the details of the curse and an explanation about its
truthfulness, go to the Curse of
King Tut's Tomb. And while you're at it, read Howard
Carter's account of what it was like to discover the
tomb.
Topics to research:
Read about other curses
associated with Egyptian mummies. Are there many? Were they real?
What facts can you find about them.
|
| School
Projects |
 Did
you know that
you can come up with a clever idea for your own Egyptian project?
You can help your teacher start an Egyptian Day or an Egyptian
Museum. Read the Suggestions
for School Projects
and see what great ideas you can come up with. Then send them in and
they will be posted on the project page.
|
| Featured
Egyptian Mummies |
 Did
you know that
almost every Egyptian mummy has a unique story to tell? One
Egyptian mummy (named Natsef-Amun) was found to have its tongue
sticking out--when it was unwrapped by a team of scientists in
1989? Why? You'll have to read more about the Featured Egyptian Mummies
at the Mummy Tombs. You can even write your own Mummy
Report.
Topics to
research:
Choose an interesting mummy or two from your
reading (or from your museum visits) and tell its story in your report. Who was
the person before it was a mummy? What have scientists discovered from their
examination of the mummy?
|
| Make
your own Mummy |
 Did you know
that Egyptian mummies
weighed very little?--at least once they were re-discovered. One
mummy from the Royal Ontario Museum, with linen wrappings removed,
weighed just 5.13 kilograms (about 11 pounds or so). Of course, if
the wrappings were still on it might weigh a good bit more,
especially if resin or amulets were embedded in the linen--or if
the wrappings were plastered with stucco. Of course, you can
experiment by making your own mummy.
Topics to research:
From your reading, select a number of interesting facts you
discovered about ancient Egyptians and/or their mummies and feature these in your report.
|
| The
Oldest Mummies |
|
 Finally,
did you know
that the Egyptians were
not
the first
civilization to mummify their dead deliberately? You'll have to travel to the Chinchorros of South America to find the civilization which
made the oldest mummies in the world.
Topics to research:
Compare a Chinchorro mummy to an Egyptian mummy. What similarities
and differences do the two types have?
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