What is a mummy?

A mummy is a body in which the process of decomposition was either minimized or stopped completely, conserving a large part of the soft tissue (skin and organs). A dry, very cold environment, or even swampland, can favor the preservation of the bodies. The mummification can be accidental, such as a body mummified in the desert for example, from which comes the term specialists call “natural mummification”. Mummification can also be intentional; in this case, those that prepare the body for burial remove the internal organs (as they decompose very quickly) and add substances such as salt or smoke, to minimize bacterial activities. Then, using clay or other materials, they restore some of the lost volume and return much of the original shape of the body. Apart from the Chinchorro people, the Egyptians are another example of a culture that preserves the dead through mummification.

Over time, the morticians created different types of mummies: the black mummies, the red, the bandaged mummies and those with a layer of mud. To prepare the black mummies (around 5,000 – 3,000 B.C.), in general terms they removed the organs from the deceased; they cleaned the skeleton completely and then reinforced all of the bones with sticks, which they tied with coils of vegetable fiber. They then reshaped the body and the extremities with grey clay and frequently “dressed” it again in the person’s own skin, or some other kind of skin (for example, sea lion skin). The head was connected again to the body and was adorned with a face mask and a short wig of black human hair. Finally, the body was painted with a layer of manganese oxide which gave it a brilliant blue-black color.