New meaning behind ancient Egyptian mummification revealed as experts claim it wasn’t about preserving corpses

A MEANING behind Egyptian mummification has been discovered that contradicts previous treatment of ancient artifacts.

While many museums have long believed the purpose of Egyptian mummification was to preserve a corpse after death, a new exhibit shows that simply isn’t true.

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The Manchester Museum, a product of Manchester University in England, has pointed out this all-too-common misconception as they piece together their upcoming Golden Mummies of Egypt exhibition, which opens in early 2023. live science said.

Their findings include that the Egyptians wanted to help lead their deceased loved ones “to divinity,” not to keep their bodies intact for the afterlife.

While this may not come as a shock to those more familiar with the life and practices of ancient Egypt, it is a complete reversal of perception of what Western students are being taught about mummies and their purpose.

Campbell Price, the Manchester Museum’s curator of Egypt and Sudan, told the outlet: “It’s a big 180.”

This reportedly began in the Victorian era, when researchers who had often seen fish being salted to preserve them assumed the same thing about unearthed mummies.

Price said: “The idea was to save fish to eat at a later date.

“So they assumed what was being done to the human body was the same as treating fish.”

But instead of just using salt, the Egyptians used baking soda, a natural substance made from sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium chloride, and sodium sulfate, found near bodies of water like the Nile, in their mummification rituals.

Baking soda was also used for “purification,” according to Price, who said the substance was used in “temple rituals” and on the “statues of the gods.”

Frankincense, which appeared alongside frankincense and myyrrh in the story of Jesus’ birth, was also a gift from the gods.

“Even the ancient Egyptian word for incense was ‘senetjer,’ literally meaning ‘to make divine,'” Price said.

“If you are burning incense in a temple, it is appropriate because that is the house of a god and makes the space divine.

“But when you use incense resins on the body, you make the body divine and a divine being. They don’t necessarily keep it.”

Further misconceptions about the Egyptians came with the notion that the dead needed their human bodies for a prosperous afterlife.

This was termed a “biomedical obsession” by Price, the idea derived from the fact that the Egyptians “(removed) the internal organs”.

“Starting in the Third Dynasty, the internal organs (lungs, stomach, liver, and intestines) were removed, washed with palm wine and spices, and preserved in four separate canopic jars made of limestone, calcite, or clay,” the Canadian Museum of History.

“Previously, the abdominal contents were removed, wrapped and buried in the bottom of the tomb.

“However, the heart was left in the body because it was considered the center of intelligence.”

However, curator Price suggests a more spiritual purpose than packaging the body’s contents for the afterlife.

“I think there’s actually a bit of a deeper meaning to that… and it’s basically turning the body into a divine statue because the dead person has been transformed.”

Because mummies are often uncovered next to a sarcophagus or decorated stone coffin somewhat resembling the dead themselves, Price’s theory of divinity carries more weight.

“In English, a mask is something that disguises your identity; a portrait reveals identity.

“These objects, panels and masks give an idealized image to the divine form.”

The exhibition will feature funerary masks, sarcophagi and panel portraits that support and convey this idea of ​​divination.

Golden Mummies of Egypt begins on February 18, 2023, and a book has been published under the same name to be digested in parallel with the exhibition.