Introduction

"I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."
-- John 11:25

"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying."
-- Woody Allen

Mummification in Egypt was widely practised in ancient Egypt. Recognised as another "trademark" of which Ancient Egypt had championed, most of us usually picture an Egyptian mummy wrapped in bandages and buried deep inside a pyramid. While Egyptian mummies are the most famous, there are also many mummies found in China, Greenland and the Andes.

A mummy is the preserved creature's body (animal or human), which may be preserved naturally or by artificial means. Mummification was originally done by nature. The oldest Egyptians buried their dead in small pits with some offerings in the dry and hot desert. The heat soon dehydrated the corpse that was buried, creating a "natural" mummy. As ages pasted, the Egyptians started fashioning coffins for the deceased. However, the body decayed as it was protected from the desert heat coffins. The Egyptians were somewhat troubled, as they believed that without a body, the deceased could not go into afterlife.

After much research and experiments, the Egyptians found the suitable materials for mummification.