- The naturally-occurring soap mummies
- Sokushinbutsu, self-mummifying Buddhist monks
- Mud mummification - for the Egyptian on a budget
- The smoked mummies of the Anga (and a modern day mummy)
- The 7,000 year old mummies of the Atacama Desert
- The Kabayan fire mummies
- Lady Dai, the Chinese mummy over 2,000 years old (and so well-preserved she's flexible)
- The earliest known scientific mummy autopsy
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| Human fat can turn to soap... (Matthew Tkocz) |
The Naturally-Occurring Soap Mummies
Did you know that human corpses can make wax?That might sound crazy, but animal and vegetable fats are the core ingredients of many soaps. A body left in damp, airless and alkaline conditions can undergo hydrolysis by bacteria and essentially have their fats turned into soap. The resulting "soap mummies" can last more-or-less indefinitely.
These sooap mummies have also helped solve criminal cases. In 1913 the saponified bodies of a pair of boys were found floating in a Scottish quarry, two years after they had been reported missing. The cold, lime-filled water had preserved them in an identifiable state and their father was subsequently convicted for their murder. In a twist reminiscent of Burke and Hare, the examining pathologist stole some organs and limbs from the bodies while a colleague distracted the police, keeping them for research purposes at Edinburgh University. Nearly a century passed before the University handed them back to a living relative!
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| A diet that helped dry out the body... (Annie Spratt) |
Sokushinbutsu, Self-Mummifying Buddhist Monks
The Ancient Egyptians are famous for their mummies, but perhaps the Japanese should get some credit for their own take on the practice... especially since it was performed while the mummy was alive.The Shingon school of Buddhism was founded in the early 800s by a monk named Kūkai (later known as Kōbō Daishi) who had studied esoteric Buddhism in China. Faced with death, Kūkai supposedly retreated to a cave and entered nyūjō - a meditative trance said to be so deep that the body ceases all activity... but does not truly die.
In 1081 the monk Shōjin attempted to enter a similar trance and requested being buried alive. This first attempt at emulation failed in spectacular fashion - when his disciples checked on the body, it was clear that the body was both dead and decomposing.
Later attempts refined the process and met with more success. Over a thousand days, the mummy-to-be would eat only what could be foraged on the mountain (nuts, buds, roots, berries and pine needles) in between meditating. This harsh dietary regime had noticeable effects - the body would lose fat, moisture and muscle, while the low nutrition would also weaken any bacteria or parasites infesting the monk.
This period could be repeated several times until the monk felt ready for the final stage - restricting themselves to salted water and waiting to die. They might also have consumed a tea made from the Japanese lacquer tree, which would have mildly poisoned themselves and any microorganisms they harbored.
When death seemed imminent, the monk would be lowered into a charcoal-lined temporary tomb beneath the earth, equipped only with a bamboo airway and a bell to ring. When the bell ceased to ring, the tomb would be opened to check that the monk was dead, the airway would be removed and the tomb resealed.
A thousand days later, the tomb would be reopened and the body inspected... and if it showed no signs of decomposition, the mummy was said to be sokushinbutsu or a living-Buddha. The mummies were housed and treated as relics and sometimes displayed for the devout!
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| Mummification was expensive... (8moments) |
Mud Mummification - for the Egyptian on a Budget
Researchers think they may have found an answer in the form of a mud-carapace mummy. The bandages were saturated with a mixture of sandy mud and straw, which shielded the body inside a shell of hardened earth. Though not as good as using resin, it does seem to have protected the body to reasonably well!
It's unknown if the mummy was originally wrapped in mud or if this was a later repair effort. The mummy had been damaged multiple times over the centuries and showed signs of simple repair and reconstruction work - including metal pins driven into the body to stabilize it!
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| Not ideal for drying a body... (blackinkstudio07) |
The Smoked Mummies of the Anga (and a Modern Day Mummy!)
The Anga of Papua New Guinea developed funeral practice that seems utterly alien to most of the world. Rather than bury or burn the dead, they smoked the bodies and enshrined them in cliff faces.The mummies were prepared in a simple manner, smoked for months in a specially prepared hut with a fire tended by their family. The body was initially positioned near the fire, then moved directly over it after it had dried out. The corpse was scrubbed with abrasive plants, while being pricked with bamboo to help release any any accumulated fluids. Finally, the desiccated body was daubed in red clay and placed on a display chair in a cliff niche.
Though the practice of smoking the dead has been largely abandoned (due to the influence of missionaries) the existing bodies are still venerated by the Anga. Efforts are made to keep them repaired and they can even be removed from the cliff to feature in celebrations and ceremonies.
There's a desire amongst some of the Anga to resurrect the mummification tradition. In 2015 Gemtasu of the Anga got his wish - he was mummified over the course of months while German researcher Ulla Lohmann documented the ritual.
The 7,000 Year Old Mummies of the Atacama Desert
Did you know that the Chinchorro people of the Atacama Desert were making mummies around 2,000 years before the ancient Egyptians?
The mummification techniques used seem to have been pretty complex. One style filled the body with ashes, soil, feathers and grass - the flesh of the face would also be removed and replaced with a mask. Another used for children involved flaying the body and re-bandaging it with strips of skin, followed by coating their heads with black clay and their bodies with red.
It's worth noting that the desert conditions (and a high local concentration of arsenic) probably helped keep the dead preserved... while also ensuring a high mortality rate.
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| Smoke could be blown into bodies... (Viktor Talashuk) |
The Kabayan Fire Mummies
Dying members of the Ibaloi tribe drank mixtures of salty liquids to begin the process of mummification. After death they would be rubbed with herbs and heated by a smoldering fire, while tobacco smoke was blown into their mouths. This process could last for weeks before the curled-up bodies were placed in oval wooden coffins and sequestered in burial caves. The practice died out in the 1500s with the arrival of Spanish colonists, though the bodies endure to this day.
Lady Dai, the Chinese Mummy Over 2,000 Years Old (and So Well-Preserved She's Flexible)
Did you know that one of (if not the) best preserved corpses in the world is that of "Lady Dai" or Xin Zhui?
She was a Han aristocrat who died between 170-160BC and was buried in Mawangdui, China with an incredible amount of care. Her body was wrapped in layers of clothing and silk ribbons, placed inside four nested coffins (each decorated with spiritual scenes) and buried beneath layers of white clay and charcoal. There was also an acidic fluid found in her coffin (it's not clear if this was intentionally added, or the had somehow seeped from her remains) and as a noble she would would have been washed in wine before burial.
The effect of all this preparation was nothing less than incredible. Xin Zhui has retained skin (even her fingerprints are intact) eyelashes, flexibility in her joints and small amounts of type-a blood in her vessels!
Researchers were able to perform an autopsy, determining that Xin Zhui suffered from hardened arteries and had died from a heart attack. Her last meal included 107.5 musk melon seeds, eaten around an hour before her death... which is interesting since musk melon might help fight heart disease.
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| In the Valley of the Kings... (Siddhesh Mangela) |
The Earliest Known Scientific Mummy Autopsy
The Ancient Egyptians believed preserving their dead would protect their spirits - so being the first known mummy autopsy is something of a dubious honor.Irtyersenu or "Dr Granville's Mummy" was examined by the Royal Society of London in 1825. She was a 50 year old female entombed in the necropolis of Thebes, thought to have died sometime around 6000 BC.
Modern analysis of the body tells a different story. The presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis markers in her lungs, gallbladder and femurs point towards a case of tuberculosis - which likely caused the death of Irtyersenu!