When most people think of mummies they picture ancient Egyptian pharaohs and pyramids but the truth is that man-made mummification practices where in effect 7,000 years prior to the Egyptians. In South America, the Chinchorros, a fishing tribe from the Andes of Chile were the true forefathers of mummifying their deceased. The Chinchorros mummified all of the tribe, not just royalty, unlike the ancient Egyptians.
Image: http://cogitz.com/2009/09/04/bog-bodies-preserved-corpses/We know from watching CSI that mummification does not have to be a man-made process but can occur naturally. “Conservative Transformation Phenomena” or “Spontaneous Mummification” can occur when a cadaver is left in the following environment: Well ventilated, Dry/dehydration with heat, Dehydration with freezing temperatures.
Various factors cause some bodies to mummify easier in natural conditions, some of these factors are: Age (newborns mummify easier), Gender (females), Cause of death (arsenic and Potassium cyanide poisoning, large hemorrhages and prolonged antibiotic administration before death.) http://www.enotes.com/forensic-science/mummies/print
Those are the mummification why(s) but what is the biological and physiological processes that occur you are probably asking yourselves...or not. After death, within a few hours these processes occur:
- Autolysis (a stage where organs containing digestive enzymes (the intestines, for example) begin to digest themselves.
- Putrefaction (the breakdown of organic matter by bacteria. In normal, circumstances, this happens about three days after death. Within a few months, the body is reduced to a skeleton. http://science.howstuffworks.com/mummy.htm
There is a special circumstance of mummies known as the “Bog Mummies” found in parts of Europe. These mummies break the rules because they are found in muddy, watery areas. So, a corpse can become mummified in water...How does this happen???
Bodies placed in a bog (soft, muddy ground) are near saltwater and peat moss. The peat moss in these bogs collects the salt from the air and releases acid into the bog water. The water then permeates throughout the cells in the corpse.
“Because of the acid, bacteria cannot survive in these bogs, so the bodies do not decompose as they normally would. If there is enough acid in the water the bones of the corpse will disintegrate, leaving only the skin and hair. Calverous bogs will do the opposite and leave only the skeleton. It is believed that only bodies that are dumped in the bogs when the water is frigid, will be preserved.”
Image:http://echostains.wordpress.com/tag/tollund-man/
"The Tollund Bog Man.”
The Tollund Bog Man was: Found in 1950 in the peat bogs of Scandinavia (Denmark), Estimated to have died in 350 B.C., was so well preserved, the contents of stomach revealed he had his last meal 12 hours before death (a soup), thought to have died at the age of 40, in the spring time (seeds eaten only harvested in spring). No one is sure how this man died but they have guessed that he was probably hung (the rope around his neck, not a scientific observation but obvious none the less). http://www.enotes.com/forensic-science/mummies/print. So this was a brief and informal introduction to mummies...not just for Egyptians.
References:
http://www.techrepublic.com /article/geek-trivia-fathers-of-the-mummy/6166465
http://www.enotes.com/forensic-science/mummies/print
http://cogitz.com/2009/09/04/bog-bodies-preserved-corpses/
http://science.howstuffworks.com/mummy.htm
