Page 53 - SYTYGIB: Ancient Egypt

Step 3
Salt was packed inside the body and left for 40 days.
Step 4
Next, the body was cleaned, oiled and wrapped with bandages.
Bandages
Bags of salt called Natron
Hello? Is anybody there? I feel better! Can someone unwrap me please?
And there you have it: a recipe for a mummy!
But please don’t try this at home . . . unless you’re around 4,000 years old and from Egypt.
Do you ever wish . . . you could be turned into a mummy?
Probably not, so it’s just as well you don’t live in ancient Egypt.
The poor weren’t important (or rich) enough to get the full “bandage him up and stick him in a pyramid” treatment like kings and officials did, but it was still important for their body to be preserved for the afterlife, so they were buried in the desert where the sand dried them out.
Tools, food and jewellery were buried alongside them for use in the afterlife. Wealthy folk had their bodies wrapped up – the “full mummy” (as it wasn’t known) – and their possessions placed alongside them in proper tombs.
Hey, this all seems a bit, you know, “deady”. . . so let’s move on.
49
Health and medicine