I.

Introduction

Mummy, term used to describe a human body that has been preserved by the natural environment or by embalming techniques. Mummies have been found in several regions of the world, including Egypt and other parts of North Africa, the Middle East, the Andes Mountains of South America, desert regions of Peru, western China, and peat bogs in Scandinavian countries. This article focuses on mummies made in Egypt between about 3400 bc and about ad 641.

The Egyptians embalmed their dead because they believed that the deceased were reborn after death, and therefore needed bodies for existence in the afterlife. The English word mummy is probably derived from mummia, the Persian word for bitumen, a dark, heavy oil. The Persians equated bitumen with the substance the Egyptians smeared between the layers of the mummy wrappings. However, the Egyptians instead used a resin-like substance taken from trees.