Some people live after death. Swamps, deserts, permafrost present scientists with surprises and sometimes keep bodies unchanged for many centuries. We will tell you about the most interesting finds, which amaze not only in appearance and age, but also in tragic fate.
Loulan beauty 3800 years old
In the vicinity of the Tarim River and the Taklamakan Desert, in the places where the Great Silk Road ran, archaeologists have found more than 300 mummies of white people over the past quarter century. Tarim mummies are distinguished by their tall stature, light or red hair, and blue eyes, which is not typical for the Chinese.
According to various versions of scientists, these could be both Europeans and our ancestors from Southern Siberia - representatives of the Afanasyev and Andronov cultures. The oldest mummy has been perfectly preserved and received the name Loulan Beauty: this young woman of model height (180 cm) with neat braids of linen hair has been lying in the sands for 3800 years.
It was found in the vicinity of Loulan in 1980, next to it was buried a 50-year-old man two meters in height and a three-month-old baby with an ancient "bottle" made of cow horn and a teat made of sheep's udder. Tamir mummies well preserved thanks to the arid desert climate and the presence of salts.
Princess Ukok 2500 years old
In 1993, Novosibirsk archaeologists who examined the Ak-Alakha mound on the Ukok plateau discovered the mummy of a girl of about 25 years old. The body lay on its side, the legs were bent. The clothes of the deceased are well preserved: a shirt made of Chinese silk, a woolen skirt, a fur coat and stockings-boots made of felt.
The appearance of the mummy testified to the peculiar fashion of those times: a wig made of horsehair was worn on a shaved head, and numerous tattoos were on the arms and shoulders. In particular, on the left shoulder was depicted a fantastic deer with a griffin's beak and ibex horns - a sacred Altai symbol.
All signs indicated that the burial belonged to the Scythian Pazyryk culture, which was widespread in Altai 2500 years ago. The local population demands to bury the girl, whom the Altai call Ak-Kadyn (White Lady), and the journalists call the princess of Ukok.
They argue that the mummy guarded the "mouth of the earth" - the entrance to the underworld, which now, when it is in the Anokhin National Museum, remains open, and it is for this reason that natural disasters have occurred in Gorny Altai over the past two decades. According to the latest research by Siberian scientists, Princess Ukok died of breast cancer.
The Tollund Man is over 2,300 years old
In 1950, the inhabitants of the Danish village of Tollund were mining peat in a swamp and at a depth of 2.5 m found the corpse of a man with traces of violent death. The body looked fresh, and the Danes immediately reported to the police. However, the police had already heard about swamp people (the bodies of ancient people were repeatedly found in the peat bogs of Northern Europe) and turned to scientists.
Soon the man from Tollund (as he was later called) was taken in a wooden box to the Danish National Museum in Copenhagen. The study revealed that this 40-year-old man, 162 cm tall, lived in the 4th century BC. e. and died of suffocation. Not only his head survived perfectly, but also his internal organs: liver, lungs, heart and brain.
Now the head of the mummy is on display in the city museum of Silkeborg with the body of a mannequin (its own - has not survived): on the face you can see the stubble and the smallest wrinkles. This is the best-preserved man from the Iron Age: he looks as if he did not die, but fell asleep. In total, more than 1000 ancient people were discovered in the peat bogs of Europe.
Ice maiden 500 years old
In 1999, on the border of Argentina and Chile, in the ice of the Llullaillaco volcano at an altitude of 6706 m, the body of a teenage girl from the Inca tribe was found - she looked like she died a couple of weeks ago. Scientists have established that this girl of 13-15 years old, who was named the Ice Maiden, was killed with a blunt blow to the head half a millennium ago, becoming a victim of a religious ceremony.
Due to the low temperature, her body and hair were perfectly preserved along with clothes and objects of worship - bowls with food, statuettes of gold and silver, an unusual headdress made of white feathers of an unknown bird were found nearby. The bodies of two more Inca victims - a girl and a boy of 6-7 years old were also found.
In the course of the study, scientists found that children were prepared for a cult for a long time by feeding them elite products (llamas and maize), cocaine and alcohol. According to historians, the Incas chose the most beautiful children for their rituals. Doctors diagnosed the Ice Maiden with the initial stage of tuberculosis. Mummies of Inca children are on display at the Museum of High Altitude Archeology in the city of Salta, Argentina.
Petrified miner about 360 years old
In 1719, Swedish miners discovered the body of a colleague in the depths of a mine in Falun. The young man looked as if he had died recently, but none of the miners could identify him. A lot of onlookers came to look at the deceased, and in the end the corpse was identified: the elderly woman bitterly recognized him as her fiancé - Mats Izraelsson, who disappeared 42 years ago (!).
In the open air, the corpse became as hard as stone - such properties were given to it by vitriol, which soaked the body and clothes of the miner. The miners did not know what to do with the find: whether to consider it a mineral and give it to a museum, or bury it as a person. As a result, the Petrified Miner was put on display, but over time it began to deteriorate and decompose due to the evaporation of vitriol.
In 1749, Mats Izraelsson was buried in the church, but in the 1860s, during the renovation of the miner, they again dug up and showed the public for another 70 years. Only in 1930 did the petrified miner finally find peace in the church cemetery in Falun. The fate of the failed groom and his bride formed the basis of Hoffman's story "Falun Mines".
Conqueror of the Arctic 189 years
In 1845, an expedition led by polar explorer John Franklin embarked on two ships to explore the Northwest Passage, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, to the northern coast of Canada.
All 129 people disappeared without a trace. Search operations in 1850 uncovered three graves on Beachy Island. When they were finally opened and the ice melted (this happened only in 1981), it turned out that the bodies were perfectly preserved due to the permafrost conditions.
A snapshot of one of the deceased - the British stoker John Torrington, originally from Manchester - made the rounds in the early 1980s and inspired James Taylor to write The Frozen Man. Scientists have found that the stoker died of pneumonia, aggravated by lead poisoning.
Sleeping Beauty 96 years old
Palermo, Sicily, hosts one of the most famous exhibitions of mummies - the Capuchin catacombs. Since 1599, the Italian elite have been buried here: clergy, aristocracy, politicians. They rest in the form of skeletons, mummies and embalmed bodies - more than 8,000 deceased in total. The most recent burial was the girl Rosalia Lombardo.
She died of pneumonia in 1920, seven days before her second birthday. Heartbroken father asked the famous embalmer Alfredo Salafia to save her body from decay. Almost a hundred years later, the girl, like a sleeping beauty, lies with slightly open eyes in the chapel of St. Rosalia. Scientists recognize that this is one of better ways embalming.
Mummies are the bodies of dead people or animals that were intentionally or accidentally preserved after death. The process of mummification is accompanied by the use of chemicals, complete dehydration of the body, as well as placing it in a vacuum space or freezer to stop the decomposition process.
Photo: Egyptian mummy in the British Museum. CC0
Archaeologists have found mummies on almost all continents. The bodies were saved by nature or people. As a rule, rulers and prominent personalities, who became cultural artifacts, were subjected to the process of mummification. The most famous mummies are found in Egypt, some of the tombs remained practically intact, others were plundered, which negatively affected the condition of their "inhabitants". The age of the Egyptian mummies is several centuries old, which once again confirms the high cultural and scientific development of the Egyptians. Today we will tell you about the most famous mummies of this mysterious country.
Why did the Egyptians mummify the dead?
The first ancient Egyptian mummies were created by accident, due to the peculiarities of the environment in which the bodies of the deceased were buried. Until 3500 BC e. the Egyptians did not have a strong division according to social strata, so almost all the dead were buried in the same way. Another feature of the burials in ancient Egypt of that period were shallow graves, which allowed the scorching sun of the desert and hot dry sand to dehydrate the body, starting the natural process of mummification.
By the way, on our site there is a very interesting site about some stories of Egyptian mythology.
With the development of religious teachings in Ancient Egypt, the mummification process became deliberate. The Egyptians believed that by preserving the body, they would allow the deceased person to live in abundance in the afterlife. The more Egypt prospered, the more luxurious the burials of its inhabitants became. Rich people were buried in expensive tombs with complex designs, and the process of mummification and burial itself became sacred.
Photo: gazelle mummy. Not only people, but also animals were mummified! CC0
The desire to preserve the body after death gave impetus to the development of embalming - the process of artificial mummification. It is surprising that even with modern technologies and knowledge accumulated over centuries at hand, scientists still cannot explain all the subtleties of embalming in Ancient Egypt. A little understanding of the process was possible only thanks to the computed tomography of the mummy, which is 2400 years old. It allowed scientists in the 00s to discover an instrument left in the body of the deceased, which, according to scientists, allows the mummy to survive.
Tutankhamun
In the photo: English archaeologist Howard Carter opens the sarcophagus in the tomb of Tutankhomon. 1922
Initially, Tutankhamun was considered a minor pharaoh, who did not leave a significant trace in the history of Ancient Egypt. Everything changed after the discovery of his tomb in 1922. Howard Carter, who made a unique discovery, gave impetus to the emergence of a second wave of interest in Egyptology. The uniqueness of the tomb of Tutankhamun is that it was practically untouched (the outer part of the tomb was subjected to only two unsuccessful attempts to break open), which allowed preserving both the mummy and the inner decoration of the pyramid.
It is known that Tutankhamun (birth name - Tutankhaton) belonged to the XVIII dynasty of Egyptian rulers and was a pharaoh in the second half of the 1300s BC. e. His tomb is relatively small, as he died at the age of 19, and his subjects simply did not have time to build the proper size. The cause of this pharaoh's death still causes heated debate among historians. Some argue that he could have been killed by his regent, who later came to the throne, others call the injury caused by falling from a chariot while hunting, and others insist on death from illness (presumably malaria). Each version is supported by direct and indirect evidence, which further confuses the case.
It is interesting that the myth of the "curse of the pharaohs" is associated with the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. According to which, everyone who touches the dead body of the ruler or is related to the opening of the tomb will be killed. Indeed, 22 people associated with the 1922 excavation died in a short span of time. However, the average age of those killed, over 74 years, casts doubt on the "curse" theory.
The tomb of Ramses I was opened 5 years before the discovery of the mummy of Tutankhamun. This ruler of Egypt during the New Kingdom is the founder of the XIX dynasty, the grandfather of the great pharaoh Ramses II. His reign lasted only 2 years, after which in 1290 BC. the son of Rameses, Seti I, ascended the throne. The coming to power of the XIX dynasty gave impetus to the return of the influence of Ancient Egypt.
Apparently, the tomb of Ramses I was built in a hurry, which is proved by both its small size and the scarcity of the internal structure (only the corridor and the main room). After the discovery of the tomb by the Italian traveler Giovanni Belzoni, the pharaoh's mummy was stolen by a professional tomb raider from the Abu Rassoul family. It was sold to an American entrepreneur and for over 100 years has been exhibited as a museum exhibit in Ontario, Canada. At the end of the 20th century, the mummy was sold to the American University Museum of Atlanta. Laboratory research with the use of computed tomography allowed scientists to assume that this is the mummy of Ramses I. Feeling responsibility to the Egyptian people, the leaders of the museum solemnly returned the mummy to Egypt in 2003.
Hatshepsut
Photo: Stone statue of Hatshepsut (CC BY-SA 2.0: rob koopman from Leiderdorp, netherlands)
Hatshepsut was one of the few women of the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, which is unusual in itself. It belongs to the XVIII dynasty of the rulers of this state. In fact, Hatshepsut's ascension to the throne was not entirely legal, since the Egyptians deny the possibility of rule by women. As regent of Thutmose III, she pushed her stepson out of power, taking her into her own hands. It is worth saying that her accession took place with the approval of the Egyptian elite of that time, as well as the high priests, who blessed her to receive the title of Pharaoh.
Photo: Mummy Hatshepsut. (c) 2007 Brando Quilici / Discovery Channel / Agentur Focus
Interestingly, 2 tombs were built for Hatshepsut, the first was built when she was the wife of the pharaoh, so it did not have enough luxury. Having ascended the throne, Hatshepsut ordered to carve a new tomb corresponding to her position. The tomb of the woman ruler was found by Howard Carter, already familiar to us. It was found in 1903, but the mummy of the queen herself was not inside. In general, the story with the identification of the embalmed body of Hatshepsut is rather confusing. It got to the point that historians put up two mummies and invited scientists from all over the world to determine which of them is the corpse of the ruler of Egypt. As it turned out, for many years the mummy of Hatshepsut was mistaken for the mummy of her wet nurse, found in the tiny tomb KV60. The transfer of the body of a female pharaoh could have been initiated by her stepson, who transferred the mummy of grandfather Thutmose I to the original burial site, but the most likely version is the assumption that the mummy of Hatshepsut, like other great rulers of Ancient Egypt, was transferred by the priests by order of Pharaoh Herihor, who wished to protect the remains of the pharaohs from the tomb robbers.
And by the way, she is on our list of the most beautiful women in history, but you can read more about this in this one.
Photo: Head of a statue of Ramses II in Luxor Temple. (Author
Rémih)
Ramses II, also known as Ramses the Great, is considered one of the most illustrious rulers of Ancient Egypt. He was the third pharaoh of the XIX dynasty, and the period of his reign was more than 66 years. Having survived 12 sons, Ramses continued the work of his father Seti I, restoring the political influence in the region to Ancient Egypt. During the reign of this pharaoh, Egypt reached the height of its power and prosperity. One of the main achievements of Ramses II was a peace treaty with the Hittite kingdom, which had previously threatened the borders of Ancient Egypt. The result of the treaty was the marriage of the pharaoh to the daughter of the Hittite ruler.
It is noteworthy, but despite its long life, the tomb of the pharaoh turned out to be unfinished (apparently, he did not intend to die at all) and was ravaged by the ancient tomb robbers almost immediately after burial. Pharaoh's body was buried as many as five times. After plundering his own tomb, he was transferred to the tomb of Seti I, which was also plundered. Two subsequent reburials also ended in robbery. As a result, the mummy of Ramses II, along with the remains of other "robbed" pharaohs, was transferred to a secret tomb built by order of Herihor. You will laugh, but she was also found by the robbers, namely the representatives of the Abd al-Rasul family, who opened the cache in the 19th century.
Noticing the illegal sale of valuables to tourists from Europe, the Egyptian government organized a whole operation to find the criminals. As a result of its implementation, the robbers were forced to give the authorities the location of the cache where the mummy of Ramses II was kept. Of course, frequent reburials could not but affect the state of the mummy, and fungi that got along with the air in the Cairo Museum, where the remains of the pharaoh were housed, also had a negative effect. To preserve the artifact, it was decided to send the mummy to Paris, where it would go through the conservation process. Research carried out by French scientists showed that Ramses II was tall (about 1.9 m) and had red hair. It is also assumed that he was left-handed.
Other notable mummies of the pharaohs
Today, 53 ancient Egyptian mummies are known, most of which belong to the pharaohs. Full list famous mummies are given in the table at the end of the article. Almost all of them belong to the New Kingdom. During this period, the rulers were buried in the Valley of the Kings, a rocky gorge that served as a place where tombs were cut down. The first ruler buried here was Thutmose I, who gave rise to the "fashion" for the construction of tombs. The last tomb in the valley was built for Ramses XI, who belongs to the 20th dynasty of Egyptian rulers. Unfortunately, many mummies suffered from both the hands of the grave robbers and the inept actions of archaeologists who uncovered the tombs at the turn of the 20th centuries. ...
We are waiting for your comments on the topic!
A mummy is a specially processed chemical the body of a living being, which slows down the process of tissue decomposition. Mummies have been stored for hundreds and even thousands of years, carrying the history of our ancestors, their customs and appearance. On the one hand, mummies look terribly scary, sometimes goosebumps run from one glance, on the other hand, they keep in themselves an interesting story the ancient world. We have compiled a list of 13 of the creepiest and most interesting mummies ever discovered in the world:
13. Mummies Museum Guanajuato, Mexico
Photo 13. Guanajuato Mummies Museum - 59 mummies that died in 1850-1950 are on display [blogspot.ru]The Guanajuato Museum of Mummies in Mexico is one of the strangest and most terrible in the world, with about 111 mummies (59 of which are on display) that died between 1850 and 1950 are collected here. Distorted facial expressions on some mummies indicate that they were buried alive. Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit the museum every year.
12. Baby mummy in Qilakitsoq, Greenland
Photo 12. Mummy of a 6-month-old boy in Greenland (Qilakitsoq market town) [Choffa] Another example of a live burial is a 6-month-old boy found in Greenland. Nearby, 3 more mummies of women were found, perhaps one of them is the boy's mother, with whom he was buried alive (according to the Eskimo customs of that time). The mummies are dated 1460. Thanks to the icy climate of Greenland, the clothes of that time are well preserved. In total, 78 items of clothing were found, made from the skins of animals, for example, seals and deer. There were small tattoos on the faces of adults, but the face of a child is just awful!
11.Rosalia Lombardo, Italy
Photo 11.2-x summer girlwho died of pneumonia in 1920 [Maria lo sposo] Little Rosalia was only 2 years old when she died of pneumonia in 1920 in Palermo (Sicily). The saddened father instructed the famous embalmer Alfred Salafia to mummify the body of Rosalia Lombardo.
10. Mummy with a painted face, Egypt
Photo 10. Mummy from Egypt on display in the British Museum [Klafubra] When we think about mummies, the first thing that comes to mind is Egypt. Many films have been made with the participation of these surviving corpses, which, bandaged in bandages, come back to life, attacking civilians. The photo shows one of the typical representatives of mummies (the exhibit is on display in the British Museum).
9. Christian Friedrich von Kalbutz, Germany
Photo 9. Christian Knight, Germany [B. Schroeren] The photo shows the German knight Christian, a halo of mystery surrounds this terrible gaze of the mummy.
8. Ramses II, Egypt
Photo 8. Mummy of the Egyptian Pharaoh - Ramses the Great [ThutmoseIII] The mummy shown in the photo belongs to Pharaoh Ramses II (Ramses the Great), who died in 1213 BC. and is one of the most famous Egyptian pharaohs. It is believed that he was the ruler of Egypt during the campaign of Moses and is represented as such in many works of art... One of the distinctive features of the mummy is the presence of red hair, symbolizing the connection with the god Set, the patron saint of royal power.
7. Woman of Skrydstrup, Denmark
Photo 7. Mummy of a girl of 18-19 years old, Denmark [Sven Rosborn] Mummy of a woman 18-19 years old, buried in Denmark in 1300 BC. From her clothes and jewelry, it can be assumed that she belonged to the family of the leader. The girl was buried in an oak coffin, so her body and clothes are surprisingly well preserved.
6. Ginger, Egypt
Photo 6. Mummy of an Egyptian Adult [Jack1956] Mummy Ginger “Ginger” is an Egyptian mummy of an adult man who died more than 5,000 years ago and was buried in the sand in the desert (at that time the Egyptians had not yet begun mummification of corpses).
5. Man Gaul, Ireland
Photo 5. Gallagh man buried in the swamp [Mark J Healey] This strange type of mummy, known as the Gallagh Man, was discovered in a swamp in Ireland in 1821. The man was buried in a swamp in a cloak with a fragment of a willow branch around his neck. Some researchers believe he may have been strangled.
4. Man Rendsvuren, Germany
Photo 4. Bog Man Rendsvuren [Bullenwächter] The Rendswühren Swamp Man, like the Bog Man Gallach, was found in a swamp, this time in Germany in 1871. The man was 40-50 years old, it is believed that he was beaten to death, the body was found in the 19th century.
3. Seti I - Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt
Photo 3. Seti I - Egyptian pharaoh in the tomb. [Underwood and Underwood] Seti I ruled from 1290 to 1279 BC. Pharaoh's mummy was buried in an Egyptian tomb. The Egyptians were experienced embalmers, so we can see them at work in our time.
2. Princess Ukoka, Altai
Photo 2. Mummy of Princess Ukok [ A mummy is a body preserved by embalming. It is subjected to special chemical treatment, due to which the process of tissue decomposition slows down or stops altogether. Mummification is possible both natural and artificial.
There have always been many secrets around mummies, they attracted the interest of both scientists and ordinary people. The image of the dead, but as if sleeping people were often frightened. People are interested in the process of mummification, as they always wanted to touch the hitherto unknown border between the world of the living and the dead.
But the search and excavation of ancient burials has always remained the lot of desperate daredevils. Nevertheless, today many mummies from all over the world are in museums.
With their help, you can learn a lot about ancient cults without visiting remote and exotic countries, risking your health and life. Legends, however, say that communication with mummies is unsafe, and disturbed dead people can take revenge on living people.
Mummification was especially studied in Ancient Egypt, where almost everyone could afford to preserve their body after death. During the era of the pharaohs, this became a sacred tradition. In total, over the past 3 thousand years, about 70 million people have been allegedly mummified.
In the IV century, most of the Egyptians converted to Christianity; according to the new faith, mummification was not needed for life after death. As a result, the ancient tradition was gradually forgotten, and most of the tombs were plundered in ancient times by vandals and thieves looking for treasures.
During the Middle Ages, the destruction of mummies continued - they were even ground into powder, creating "magic" potions. The modern day treasure hunters have continued the destruction of tombs. Even the relatively recent 19th century contributed to the destruction of mummies - the bandages of the mummies were used as paper, burning bodies for fuel.
Today, mummification is carried out on a completely scientific basis, an example of this is the mausoleums with the bodies of the leaders of the socialist countries. Below are the ten most famous mummies in human history.
Tutankhamun is the most famous mummy.
She is now in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor. Historians believe that this pharaoh did not stand out among the line of rulers. Having entered the throne at the age of 10, at the age of 19, Tutankhamun died. According to the data of Egyptologists, the young man died in 1323 BC. his death. But the most interesting events related to the personality of this pharaoh began three millennia after his death. In 1922, the British Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun, untouched by the robbers. After the archaeologists opened the wooden and stone coffins nested in each other, they discovered a golden sarcophagus. Since there was no air in it, even the flowers were well preserved inside, not to mention the jewelry. The pharaoh's face was covered with a mask of pure gold. However, this was followed by a series of accidents, which gave rise to talk about the curse of the ancient priests. Just a year later, Carnarvon unexpectedly died of pneumonia (there were rumors of a mysterious mosquito), followed by Carter's assistants, suddenly death overtook Archibald Reed, a scientist who wanted to make an X-ray of the mummy. The society was not interested in reasonable arguments, and after all, most of the deceased scientists were already of advanced age. Moreover, Carter himself was the last to die, in 1939. The newspapermen simply adjusted the facts to create a mysterious legend.
Networks I.
Among the famous mummies, another Egyptian find stands out - the remains of Seti I. He was one of the greatest warrior-pharaohs in history, who also became the father of another legendary ruler - Ramses II the Great. Seti's reign dates back to the 19th dynasty. According to the surviving records, the pharaoh successfully defended Egypt from the invading army of neighboring Libya. It was thanks to Seti I that Egyptian power extended to the borders of modern Syria. Pharaoh ruled for 11 years, doing a lot for the prosperity of his country. His grave was discovered in 1917 by accident. Heavy rain caused a collapse of the earth and opened the entrance to the tomb, but inside the researchers saw that robbers had already been here a long time ago and there were no mummies inside. The very opening of the tomb became a resonant phenomenon, like the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun. But in 1881, in the cache of Deir el-Bahri, the well-preserved mummy of Seti was nevertheless found. Today it is kept in the Cairo Egyptian Museum.
Ramses II.
The son of Set, Ramses II the Great, reigned for 67 years in 1279-1212 BC. At the time of his death, the pharaoh was over 90 years old. Ramses became one of the most famous rulers of Ancient Egypt. His mummy was discovered by G. Maspero and E. Brugsh in the aforementioned cache of Deir el-Bahri in 1881, among other royal bodies. Now it is in the Cairo Museum, giving an excellent opportunity to imagine what the great ruler looked like. Although then an ordinary Egyptian did not exceed 160 cm, the growth of the pharaoh was about 180 cm. Scientists note that the facial features of the mummy are similar to the images of the ruler in his youth. In 1974, the museum's Egyptologists discovered that the mummy's condition began to deteriorate. It was decided to send the valuable exhibit to Paris for a medical examination; for this, Ramses even received an Egyptian passport. In France, the mummy was processed and diagnosed. She testified that Rameses had wounds and fractures from the battles and also suffered from arthritis. Experts were even able to identify some types of herbs and flowers that were used for embalming, such as chamomile oil.
Ramses I.
The grandfather of Ramses the great and the founder of the Ramsesid dynasty was Ramses I. Before becoming a ruler, Pharaoh had the following official titles: "Head of all the horses of Egypt", "Commandant of fortresses", "Royal scribe", "Charioteer of His Majesty" and others. Prior to his reign, Ramses was known as a military leader and dignitary to Parames, serving his predecessor, Pharaoh Horemheb. It was these two pharaohs who were able to restore the economy and political stability in the country, which were shaken after the religious reforms of Akhenaten. The tomb of Ramses I was accidentally found in Deir el-Bahri by Ahmed Abd el-Rasul while he was looking for his lost goat. The man was a well-known member of the family of tomb robbers. Ahmed began selling numerous items from the burial to tourists and collectors. When the tomb was officially discovered in 1881, the mummy of the pharaoh himself was no longer there. In the burial were found 40 other mummies, sarcophagi and numerous exhibits, including the coffin of Ramses himself. According to research in diaries, letters and reports of the time, it was discovered that the Canadian physician James Douglas purchased the mummy for £ 7 in 1860. He purchased the relic for a museum owner in Niagara. It was there that it was kept for the next 130 years, until it was acquired by the Michael Carlos Museum in Atlanta for $ 2 million. Of course, there was some doubt that this is the mummy of Ramses, lost in the 19th century. However, the results of the computed tomography, X-ray and radiocarbon analysis showed the similarity of the body with other representatives of the dynasty, especially since there was also an external similarity. As a result, the mummy of the pharaoh was returned to Egypt in 2003 with honors.
Otzi (or Otzi).
Among the sinister mummies, Otzi (or Oetzi) occupies a special place. In 1991, two German tourists discovered a body frozen in ice in the Alps. At first, they mistook him for modern, but only in the morgue of the Austrian Innsbruck was Otzi's true age recognized. Naturally mummified man was kept in ice for about 5 thousand years and belongs to the Chalcolithic era. Fragments of his clothing are perfectly preserved, although many of them were taken as souvenirs. As a result of numerous publications about the mummy, she was given more than 500 nicknames, but the story remains the one that Vienna reporter Wendel gave her in honor of the Ötztal valley. In 1997, the official name of the find was also given - Ice Man. Today the find is kept in the Archaeological Museum of South Tyrol in Bolzano. Otzi's height at the time of death was 165 cm, and his weight was 50 kg. The man's age was about 45 years old, he ate deer meat for the last time, and belonged to a small tribe engaged in agriculture. Otzi had 57 tattoos on him, a copper ax, a bow and many objects. Scientists over time dismissed the original version that Otzi was simply frozen in the mountains. On his body were found numerous wounds, bruises and fractures, traces of blood from other people. Forensic experts believe that Ice Man rescued his fellow tribesmen and carried them on his shoulders, or he was simply buried in the Alps. A curse story is also associated with the name of this mummy. It is said that the found Ice Man caused the death of six people. The first of these was the German tourist Helmut Simon. He received a prize of 100 thousand dollars for his find and, to celebrate, decided to visit this place again. However, there he was overtaken by death in the form of a blizzard. As soon as the funeral was over, the rescuer, who had now found Simon, died of a heart attack. The medical examiner who examined the body of Otzi also died in a car accident soon after, and this happened at the time of his trip to television to give an interview about the find. A professional climber who accompanied the researchers to the place of discovery was also killed - a huge stone fell on his head during the collapse. A couple of years have passed and now an Austrian journalist who was present during the transportation of the mummy and who made a documentary about her died of a brain tumor. The last of the victims of the mummy today is considered to be an Austrian archaeologist who studied the body. But hundreds of people were involved in the study of the mummy, so such a chain could just be an accident.
Princess Ukok.
In 1993, a sensational find was made in Altai. During excavations of an ancient burial mound, a well-preserved body of a woman was found in the ice, who was named Princess Ukok. She died at the age of 25, and lived in the 5th-3rd centuries BC. In the found cell, in addition to the mummy, the remains of six horses with saddles and harnesses were also found, which testified to the high status of the buried woman. She was also well dressed, and there were numerous tattoos on her body. Although scientists were delighted with the find, the locals immediately began to talk about the fact that the disturbed grave and the spirit of the princess would bring misfortune. Some Altaians argue that the mummy, now stored at the Novosibirsk Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, should be buried or returned to its native lands. The consequence of the disturbance of the peace of mind was the more frequent earthquakes and seismological activity in Altai, the increased number of gratuitous suicides. It is believed that all these events are the revenge of the princess. They even talk about broken devices and crashed helicopters, on which they planned to carry the mummy, but information about this has not been confirmed. Although popular rumor raised the mummy to the rank of a princess - the progenitor of all Altai peoples, scientists have debunked this myth. The woman was wealthy but middle class. In addition, DNA studies showed that she belonged to the Caucasian race, which caused protest and distrust from the local peoples belonging to the Mongoloids.
Xin Zhui.
In 1971, the mummy of a wealthy Chinese woman of the Han dynasty named Xin Zhui was discovered in the Chinese city of Changsha. She died in 168 BC. at the age of 50. The wife of a high-ranking official, a representative of the ancient Thai people, was buried in an unusual way. There were only four sarcophagi, and they were nested one inside the other, delaying the decomposition procedures. The body itself was floating in 80 liters of a yellowish liquid, the recipe for which remained unclear, since it immediately evaporated. The autopsy yielded amazing results - the body weighed only 35 kg, while the joints remained mobile, and the muscles were still elastic. Even the skin has retained its tone. Many different items were found near the deceased, including recipes for her favorite dishes. Also in the sarcophagus, dozens of books on medicine were found, where in the smallest details it talked about operations to enlarge the brain and bypass surgery. The researchers also found another unusual find there. A 1: 180,000 scale map of three Chinese provinces was drawn on a square meter piece of silk. However, the accuracy of the drawing was amazing! It was absolutely consistent with the satellite data. The mystery of the mummy was also given by the fact of the death of one of the scientists participating in the research from an incomprehensible disease. Now the mummy is located in history museum Changsha city.
Tarim mummies.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Tarim mummies were discovered in the desert places of the Tarim Basin. It is noteworthy that these people were Caucasians, confirming the theory that people of this race were widespread in inner Asia. The most ancient mummies belong to XVII century BC. These people had long blond or red hair that was braided. Their fabric is also well preserved - cloaks made of felt and leggings with a checkered pattern. One of the most famous Tarim mummies is the Loulan Beauty. This young woman was about 180 cm tall and had light brown hair. She was found in 1980 in the vicinity of Loulan. The find is more than 3800 years old. Today the woman's remains are kept in the museum of the city of Urumqi. It is noteworthy that next to her was found the burial of a 50-year-old man with hair braided in 2 braids and a 3-month-old baby with a bottle and cow horns and a teat from the udder of a sheep. There were also found objects of ancient utensils - a cap, a sieve, a bag. Craniometric research data suggest that Tarim mummies have an anthropological similarity to Indo-Europeans.
Dashi Dorzho Itigelov.
In 2002 took place an important event - opening of the sarcophagus with the body of the famous Buryat figure of the early XX century - Dasha Dorzho Itigelov. The Buddhist ascetic became famous during his lifetime. He was born in 1852, becoming famous both as a monk and as an expert in Tibetan medicine. Information about his relatives has not been preserved, which gives Buddhists the opportunity to cherish the legend of the extraterrestrial origin of the priest. From 1911 until the Revolution, he was the head of the Russian Buddhists. In 1927, the lama gathered his disciples and ordered them to visit his body 30 years later, and then, reading prayers, he went to nirvana. The body of the deceased was placed in a cedar box and, according to his will, was opened in 1955 and 1973 in order to make sure that it was incorruptible. No posthumous changes or signs of decomposition were found on the deceased. After 2002, the deceased, without creating any special conditions, was placed in a glass in a monastery for everyone to see. Although any biomedical research on the body was banned after 2005, hair and nail analysis showed. That their protein structure corresponds to the state of a living person, but the bromine content exceeds the norm by 40 times. They did not manage to find any scientific explanations for the phenomenon, but thousands of pilgrims reached for the incorruptible body in Buryatia, Ivolginsky datsan.
Lenin.
The name of Lenin is familiar to everyone in our country. This is a Russian and Soviet political and statesman, the founder of the Bolshevik Party, one of the organizers and leaders of the October Revolution of 1917. Vladimir Ilyich was the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, first in Russia, and then in the USSR. In 1924, the leader died, and they decided to save his body. For this, Professor Abrikosov was called in, who embalmed the deceased with a special composition. By the day of the funeral, a wooden mausoleum was built. Initially, the embalming was designed for a short time in order to have time for the funeral. Abrikosov himself considered the struggle to preserve the body senseless, since science simply does not know how to do this, especially since cadaveric spots and pigmentation appeared on the body. The debate about the methods of mummification has been going on for a long time - about 2 months! The method of low temperatures with the installation of a refrigeration chamber was rejected, work on the body began on March 26, using a quickly developed unique method, similar to Egyptian mummifications. By that time, the body had already acquired dramatic changes. The dark spots were removed with acetic acid, the soft tissues were soaked in formaldehyde solution and embalming agents. On August 1, 1924, the Mausoleum was opened to the public, almost 120 million people passed by the sarcophagus. The mummy is periodically subjected to biochemical treatment, while experts believe that with proper care, the remains can persist indefinitely. Currently, there are disputes over the very fact of the mummification of the leader. Its role in history has already been revised, and the fact of preserving the body was not personal (with the permission and request of relatives), but political in nature. More and more calls are heard for Lenin's burial in the ground.
Mummy, Ancient Egypt - probably everyone has heard about this. So many millennia have passed over the gray masses of tombs and pyramids, and they still attract and fascinate people from all over the world. Mystery, gloom, extraordinary flourishing of crafts, developed medicine, exquisite culture and rich mythology - all this makes the ancient country alive and interesting.
Why the dead were mummified
I must say that the mummies of Ancient Egypt (photos of many of them make you shudder) are a separate phenomenon that still causes heated debate. Can they be exhibited in museums? After all, after all, these are the bodies of the dead ... Anyway, tourists in many countries of the world can go and look at long-dead people, whose earthly shells are partially saved from the pernicious influence of time. Why were they created? The fact is that the ancients believed in the existence of a person after death directly at the place of his burial. That is why magnificent tombs and pyramids were built for the kings, which were filled with everything that could be useful to them after death. And for the same reason, the Egyptians tried to keep the body of the deceased from destruction. For this, mummification was invented.
Mummy making process
Mummification is the preservation of a corpse using special techniques and preparations while maintaining the integrity of its outer shell. Already in the days of the 2nd and 4th dynasties, bodies began to be wrapped in bandages, keeping them from decay. Over time, the mummy (Ancient Egypt succeeded in creating them) began to be made much more complicated and sophisticated: the entrails were removed from the body, and special herbal and mineral preparations were used for conservation. It is believed that during the 18th and 19th dynasties, the art of mummification reached its true heyday. It should be said that the mummy (Ancient Egypt created many of them) could be made in several ways, which differed in complexity and cost.
Historian testimony
The historian Herodotus says that the embalmers interviewed the relatives of the deceased, offered them several methods of body preservation to choose from. If an expensive option was chosen, then the mummy was made in this way: first, part of the brain was removed (through the nostrils using an iron hook), a special solution was injected, the abdominal organs were cut out, the body was washed with palm oil and rubbed with incense. The belly was filled with myrrh and other fragrant substances (no incense was used) and sewn up. The body was placed in soda lye for seventy days, then taken out and wrapped in bandages, smeared with gum instead of glue. Everything, a ready-made mummy (Ancient Egypt demonstrates a lot of them) was given to relatives, placed in a sarcophagus and kept in a tomb.
If relatives could not pay for an expensive method of conservation and chose the one that was cheaper, the craftsmen did the following: the organs were not cut out, just cedar oil was injected into the body, decomposing everything inside, and the corpse was also placed in lye. After a certain period of time, the body, dried up and devoid of entrails, was returned to relatives. Well, a very cheap method, for the poor, is to inject radish juice into the stomach and, after lying in lye (the same 70 days), return to relatives. True, Herodotus did not know or did not describe a couple of important points. First, scientists still do not really understand how the Egyptians managed to dry the body, doing it extremely skillfully. Secondly, the heart was never removed from the body, and the rest of the insides were placed in special vessels that were stored in the tomb next to the mummy.
End of mummification
I must say that mummification persisted for a very long time in Egypt and was practiced even after the introduction of Christianity. According to the doctrines of Christianity, the body does not need to be preserved after death, but the priests could not instill this in their flock. Only the later arrival of Islam put an end to the creation of mummies. Now a photo of the mummy of Egypt will certainly adorn the catalog of any major museum that has a department of this ancient state.