(ORDO NEWS) — Experts from the Museum of the University of Manchester in the UK told why the ancient Egyptians actually mummified the dead.
For several centuries, it was believed that the complex burial rite was associated with the preservation of the body for the afterlife.
This hypothesis has dominated since the Victorian era. When the researchers of that time mistakenly decided that the process of mummification is similar to salting fish, since salt is involved in both processes.
But, as scientists found out, when mummifying bodies, the Egyptians used the mineral natron, which was rich in the silt of a lake near the Nile River. With the same mineral, the priests cleansed the statues of the gods.
In addition, incense was used during mummification, which was used to fumigate temples.
If you put these facts together, it becomes clear that in ancient Egypt, the process of mummification was needed to deify the deceased.
And the entrails removed from the body prepared the body for transformation into a “divine statue”.
In addition, the likeness of the deceased was often depicted on the sarcophagi. Thus, the mask depicted an idealized image of the “divine” deceased.
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