Show pupils photographs of mummies and ask them to describe what they see. Explain that mummies are human or animal remains. What is a mummy? Ask students to think about why the ancient Egyptians might have wanted to preserve bodies. Remind them that mummification was an elaborate, multi-step process. read more
Ancient Egyptian mummies are the bodies of humans (or animals) which have been preserved through a complex process of mummification. The process of mummification is the process (embalming and wrapping) by which a body was preserved and prepared for burial. read more
Because the ancient Egyptians believed that there was life after death, they reasoned that a person would need his body with him. They therefore developed a method of preserving, or embalming, bodies to make mummies. Ancient books describe the complete embalming process, which took 70 days. read more