For many years, most people believed that the ancient Egyptians used mummification as a way to preserve bodies after death. However, this assumption turned out to be wrong.
This fact was revealed in a study conducted by the University of Manchester's Manchester Museum in England. This study sheds light on a common misconception about mummies.
Quoted from Live Science, through the "Egyptian Golden Mummies" exhibition which opened earlier this year, researchers revealed that the mummification burial technique was actually a way of guiding the deceased to divinity.
So how exactly did this misunderstanding develop for so long? Campbell Price, museum curator of Egypt and Sudan, said the idea had its origins in western countries, started by researchers from the Victorian era.
Price said they were mistaken in determining that the ancient Egyptians preserved corpses the same way they preserved fish. Their reasons? Both processes contain salt ingredients.
"The idea is you preserve the fish to be eaten in the future. So they assume that what is done to the human body is the same as what is done to the fish," said Price.
However, the salt used by the ancient Egyptians was different from the salt used to preserve fish. Mummification salt was known to contain natron, a natural mineral containing a mixture of sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium chloride, and sodium sulfate which was abundant around the bottom of lakes near the Nile River, and was used as a key ingredient in mummification.
"We also know that natron is used in temple rituals and applied to statues of gods. It is used for cleansing," he explained.
Price said another ingredient commonly associated with mummies was incense, which also served as a gift to the gods.
"Incense and frankincense are present in Christian stories about Jesus and were gifts from three wise men. In ancient Egyptian history, we have found that they were also befitting gifts to gods," he said.
He added, Even the word incense in ancient Egyptian, 'senetjer', literally means 'divine making'. When burning incense in a temple, it is considered appropriate because it is the house of the god and makes the whole room 'divine'.
"But if you apply incense resin to the body, you are making the body move toward divinity, into a godly being," says Price.
Like the Egyptians, Egyptologists also believed that the dead would need their bodies in the afterlife, further reinforcing the misconception about mummification.
"I think it actually has a deeper meaning, and is basically about turning bodies into statues of gods because the dead have been transformed," he explained.
Archaeologists also often find mummies placed inside sarcophagi showing the likeness of the deceased. According to Price, this portrait reveals the identity of the person and provides an idealized image of the divine form.
As part of the exhibition, the museum will display a number of funerary masks, panel portraits and sarcophagi associated with ancient Egyptian burials, offering further evidence of the true purpose of mummification.
The 'Golden Mummies of Egypt' will be on display at the Manchester Museum from 18 February 2023. The museum has also published a book of the same title written by Price to accompany the exhibition.