Warning! These pages will be showing actual mummies, might not be appropriate for young children. Mummies around the World Unknown man E For an upclose and personal view of this mummy click here Not too pretty is he? And I bet you he don't smell too pretty either. He has been referred to as "repulsive", "noxious" and "hideous". He was unwrapped by Dr. Fouquet and M. Mathey in the company of Gaston Maspero on June 6,1886, near the Valley of the Kings. When upon examination, they were horrified at the sight they saw. Apparently, his hands and feet were bound and the expression on the mummie's face seemed as though he was shreiking in pain. His abdomen was contorted and his head thrown back. They conclude that Unknown man E was poisoned. The uncanny details of this mummy, other than what he looks like, has everyone in a cauldron of theories and speculation. Some say that he was the Prince who was sent to marry Ankhesenamun, and when he was murdered, he was buried in sheepskin. Others say that he was the son of RamessesIII, Pentewere when he tried to overthrow his father. Another theory is that he might have been someone in the upper ruling class who went on a military expedition in a territory of whom the people there had very limited knowledge on mummification. And so the local residents did what they could to preserve the body and might have used the sheepskin because it was appropriate in their customs and then they sent him on his merry way. Someone else speculated that he had been impaled due to the fact that his perineum had severely damaged, although the large intestine was intact. Another assumption is that he was a human sacrifice and entombed with the pharaohs. As foolish as that sounds, it's not the first time I hear of human sacrifice in Egypt. That's another subject for later. What ever the reason, this mummy was covered in sheepskin and white wool, this opened up a whole can of worms. According to some scholars, they say that Herodotus wrote that garments made of wool were deemed "ritually unclean" by ancient Egyptian standards. They get this notion from "The Tale of Sinuhe." Here the Pharaoh is trying to persuade Sinuhe to return to Egypt and I quote;" You shall not die in a foreign land...you shall not be placed in a sheepskin as they make your grave" It is said that "Unknown man E" is unique, the only one of it's kind. No other ancient Egyptian burial has ever been found using sheepskins. You might say that they ran out of linen, but that wasn't the case here. Underneath, there were wrappings of linen. Maspero dates him to the 18th dynasty and points out that under the sheepskin there was a "thick network of bandages". And later they find a layer of natron and then a final layer of linen. Maybe he suffered the "humdai"? They work methodically as Fouquet chronicles that the linen had been "impregnated with an adhesive substance" and apparently could only be removed with a saw. With that being said, I shudder to think of what details they destroyed in the process. He documents that the linen used was of excellent quality, indicating that he was of a high social standing. Under the second layer of linen there is a coating natron, crushed resin and lime which was applied onto the skin. They concluded that the mummy was 23 or 24 years old. As they continue their exam make an incision, they find out that he has all his organs in place, including his penis, of which it is said they lost. The mummy also had pierced ears with gold earrings intact. They also state that in his funerary box there are two staffs, of which no one seems to know what they are or represent. However; they do say that there is a dipiction of Maya, king Tut's treasurer who is also holding two staffs. And guess what? They not only lost the poor guy's penis, they also lost the earrings and the staffs.   As you can see in the above photo, his coffin plain and undecorated. Despite the lack of the usual regalness, and the magical spells needed to assure his passing unto the afterlife, his coffin was made out of costly cedar wood, an extravagant product in ancient Egypt. Ginger This is Ginger, or what's left of him...they say he was found in a cemetary in Gebelein, Egypt from the late Predynastic period and is approximately over 5000 years old. They gave him the name Ginger for his golden locks of hair found still intact. His new home is in the British Museum in a fake shallow pit with a few duplicated vessels. As you can see he is in a fetal position. Scholars claim that when they find mummies in this position, they are imitating the grave as the womb of a woman and the mummy as a new born infant about to enter the afterlife. Unfortunately there isn't a whole lot of information on Ginger. But I will keep hunting Egyptians also mummified their animals. From birds to bulls. The majority of of them were not only viewed as pets but as epitomes of the gods. They mummified millions of animals. And they spared no expense to mummify these beloved creatures. Asian Mummies from Japan The practice of self-mummification Yes, I did say SELF mummification or "sokushinbutsu". These were Buddhist monks who fasted for years, losing as much body mass as possible so as to mummify, until death came. Needless to say that it must have been horribly painful.These mummies today are still considered by some locals as gods. Nowadays the practice of sokushinbutsu is prohibited by law. But like I always say, "it's only illegal if you are caught" and in this case you'd already be dead. A few years ago I watched a program on this fascinating subject. It was on Discovery or National Geographic, can't remember, anyway, it not only told you about the ones who passed over, but they were interviewing this young man who was determined to inflict self mummification on himself in the same manner as the bygone monks. If I remember correctly, he was on his fourth or fifth year into the process. Whether he achieved his goal I don't know. Pic taken by Garth © 2007 In Yamagata, Japan, there are approximately 27 monks who mummified themselves. This particular priest is named Daijuku Bosatsu Shinnyokai Shonin...his death 1783. His death took ten years to accomplish. He spent three years consuming nothing but twigs and berries. During the next 1,000 days, he ate pine bark and resin. For the final 1,000-day period, he drank tea made from urushi, a toxic substance used to make lacquer. After enduring such harsh, self-inflicted treatment for nearly a decade, the monk was buried alive. He sat in a stone room, in complete darkness, and meditated until his death. A breathing tube was in place to provide oxygen as long as he rang a bell daily. Once the bell stopped ringing, the tube was removed and the tomb sealed. Three years later, the tomb was opened. His body had mummified, and he became a sokushinbutsu: a living Buddha. Asian Mummies from China Meet Liu Sheng and his wife, Tou Wan or what's left of them. He was a prince from the Han dyansty who ruled from 157 BC to 141 BC. His father was Emperor Jing. During some sort of construction work being done in 1968, in the city of Hebel, which is 95 miles from Beijing, workers come across one of the most important archeaological finds in Chinese history. The myths of jade burial suits have now been unburied. They did not find only one, but two suits made from precious jadeite belonging to our departed lovers. Each suit contained 2498 plates of jadeite held together with two and half pounds of gold wiring. As it is today, jadeite was an expensive commodity. Although their coffins had collapsed, Liu Sheng and Dou Wan were each found in a jade suit. Unfortunately they only found skeletol remains. The idea of immortality ran deep within the culture at the time, the idea of embalming and preserving the body also emerged. Jade was a symbol of wealth and magical power. In turn, a symbol of power and immortality grew out of the greenish-white gem that complimented perfectly with the Chinese belief of the souls’ eternal life-after-death theory. Each suit consists of 12 sections: face, head, front, and back parts of tunic, arms, gloves, leggings, and feet. It has been estimated that a suit such as Liu Sheng's would have taken ten years to fashion. Along with the jade suits, Liu Sheng and Dou Wan each had a gilt bronze headrest inlaid with jade and held jade crescents in their hand. Europes pickled people No they were not preserved in a whiskey barrel lol...these are the bog mummies. The bog bodies are so well preserved that scientists can actually determine exactly what their last supper was. The majority of bog mummies that have been dead for thousands of years are often mistaken for recent homocides. This is Grauballe man, found in 1952 in Denmark, his last meal was vegetable soup. They have dated him to 290 BC. His hair, nails and beard all intact. He even has fingerprints. It is said that his throat was lacerated and is speculated that he was a product of sacrifice or that he was executed. He is on display at Moesgard Museum in Denmark. Both pics provided by http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Malene Picture provided by Wikipedia This is Tollund Man. Looks like he sleeps in peace, however; if you look closely at behind his head towards the neck line, you'll see a noose. The experts say that his eyes and mouth were shut gracefully after his killers sacrificed him to the gods. He also was found in Denmark in 1950. They say he was between 30 and 40 years of age. They date him back to around 400 BC. As you can see in the picture he has a cap on his head and is fastened under his chin. He only wore a leather hide belt around his waist. They also claim that he did not shave on that fateful day. The noose around his neck was tight and trailed down to his back. He was found in a fetal position. His last meal was some sort of porridge which contained barley laced with a huge amount of ergot. The same substance that lead to the masacre of the Salem witches. It is a hallucinogenic drug found on decayed rye. Some say that this was given to our mummy to transform his state of mind at the time of his demise. Interesting note from Wikipedia; "British author John Grigsby argues that Tollund Man may have been killed in the rites of the Goddess Nerthus mentioned by Tacitus in his Germania, in which victims were ritually drowned. In his book 'Beowulf and Grendel Grigsby suggests that the ingestion of ergot was part of Nerthus's cult and that the subjugation of this religion by the Danes in the 5th and 6th centuries lay behind the epic tale of Beowulf." Beowulf has now been made into an epic movie which was released in theatres on November 16th, 2007 which stars, Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich and Angelina Jolie. Mummies South of the Border This unfortunate soul is Juanita, also known as the Ice Maiden. She was between the ages of twelve to fourteen, It is believed that she was sacrificed to the Inca mountain god Apus between 1440-1450 AD. She was found on Mt. Ampato, Peru. She was extremely well preserved and shipped to the US for X-rays and such. She was in good health at the time of her death. Tests showed she died from blunt force trauma to the head. She now resides in a special container in the Museum of the Universidad Católica de Santa María of Arequipa, Peru. Juanita's perfectly preseved hands Mummies Secrets of the Pharaohs An Imax film...click   And now my favorite Mummy Hit the refresh button Pictures from Tour Egpyt Animated Snake Bar, Cauldrons and hieroglyphic background from Wendy's Glitter Background from All pictures, graphics, animations and backgrounds on this site are copyrighted. If you wish to use any of the images on this site you must gain permission from the manager and get the proper links to the sites that have contributed to Beyond the Nile. If you do not do so you are in direct infringement of copyright laws.