Mummies

The Ancient Egyptians believed that in order for them to enjoy an afterlife after they died their bodies would have to be well looked after so their spirit could return to it when it needed to.

Lots of mummies have survived, and today there is a good chance that a museum near you will have some on display.

When you look at a mummy, remember that it is the body of a real person, carefully wrapped up so it will last. In fact the newest mummies from Egypt are already about 2000 years old.

Eric has kindly agreed to dress up to show you how mummies were made.

Click on different parts of the picture to find out more about mummification.

After the Mummy was wrapped up in it's bandages often a special mask was put over the head.

See some mummy masks

After the mummy was finished it was then put in a special coffin. These were often shaped like the mummy, and had special magical writing on them. This writing usually had magic spells which would help the person in the afterlife.

For ordinary people these coffins would have been made of wood, but for special leaders, like King Tutankhamun, the coffins could even be made of solid gold !

See some Egyptian coffins

See Tutankhamun's gold coffin

Ground up mummy was used as a medicine in the last century. It was thought that it could be used to treat cuts.

Lots of mummies were brought back from Egypt as souvenirs by rich tourists.

And the dried bodies and wrappings were also burnt as fuel !!

Just as well there's some left though. Scientists can tell a lot about the Egyptians from the mummies, such as what they ate and how healthy they were.