Famous mummies and their mysterious stories. Mummies: the dark secrets of the Egyptian pharaohs (6 photos) Mummies in our time

Egypt is a mysterious and beautiful country that attracts and surprises, falls in love and frightens at the same time. Legends are made about her, films are made, songs and poems are written. Mummies remain the most magnificent mystery to this day.

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We all know about the curse of Tutankhamun or the mummy of Imhotep (who was a great scientist, architect and doctor) thanks to cult films and media publications. But what is a mummy? What is the difference between mummification and embalming? What frightens and impresses researchers of ancient burials so much? Why were the dead in Egypt subjected to this procedure? We will try to find an answer to all these questions.

A mummy is a human corpse that has been treated with special agents, compounds and oils using ancient techniques and methods to maintain optimal conditions to stop the development of decomposition in the corpse. The word “mummy,” according to scientists, refers to a special resin, a type of bitumen, which, according to most researchers, was used to treat the body of the deceased.

Mummification has a number of differences from embalming. If in the first case the body of the deceased was treated with special drugs and dried, then in the second option the main task was to stop the processes of tissue decomposition and leave the body as close as possible to what the person had during life.

Many specialists from different fields are studying this phenomenon in world culture. This knowledge is of particular value for:

archaeologists;
historians;
doctors;
anthropologists;
chemists.

They all explore different aspects of the same phenomenon (living conditions, social and political processes, chemical compositions of substances, DNA analysis of the dead, what processes underlie the cremation of a corpse) trying to clarify the dark sides and fill in the blind spots in the question of how they were cremated and In those days they buried the dead.

How and why they did it in Ancient Egypt

Mummification in Ancient Egypt had a religious aspect, which was based on the belief that the pharaoh was of divine origin and his body must be preserved so that the soul could be reborn after death, find its body and recognize it.

It all started with the legend about the goddess Isis and her lover Osiris, who was killed by Set, and parts of his body were scattered throughout the world. But the god Anubis (according to legend), with the help of Isis, found them, put them together, treated them with oils, wrapped them in long cloth and breathed life into the dead body.

It was the belief in divinity, immortality, high social status and wealth that made it possible for only the wealthy classes in Egypt at that time to mummify their bodies. These included:

pharaohs and their relatives;
close associates of the pharaohs (guards, advisers and assistants);
priests.

As for ordinary people, for a long time there was an opinion that they, in principle, do not have a soul, so they do not need this procedure at all. However, over time, the common population could also mummify their deceased relatives if they had enough money and opportunity to do so.

Researchers of burials and sarcophagi in Ancient Egypt say that in addition to the mummy of the deceased himself, the burials also contain the bodies of girls and wives (who, according to some rituals, could have been buried alive), supplies of food and drink, money, jewelry, and weapons. All this only confirms the religious basis of mummification, because the soul was given what it needed for a comfortable stay in the other world.

In addition, animal mummies are also found in burials. Especially often these are cats, which were especially revered in those days, were considered inviolable and lived in temples and palaces.

Mummification: stages and processes

Mummification as a physical phenomenon is a rather complex and long process, the secrets of which were known only to a certain number of people in Ancient Egypt. To properly mummify a deceased person, knowledge of the structure of the human body, chemistry, physics and climatic conditions of a certain territory was needed, as well as the conditions necessary to bring the corpse into the desired state.

There are two types of mummification:

natural (when the human body is dried and does not decompose under the influence of certain climatic factors);
artificial mummification (implies the use of special means to achieve the desired effect).

The first option took place when, after death, a person’s corpse was buried in the sand. It was the sand that absorbed all the moisture from the human body and did not give it the opportunity to decompose. And constant high temperatures and winds dried the remains naturally.

As for the second option, here you need to more thoroughly understand all the processes and nuances in order to understand the meaning of how the whole process occurs. After death, the body of the deceased was taken to a special room, where the entire ritual took place, which lasted 70 days. This figure is associated with the intertwining of religion and astronomy in the consciousness of that time: this is the number of days the star of Osiris is below the horizon and is not visible in the sky.

The most complete and reliable description of the process of cremation of the deceased can be found in the works of Herodotus. He talks about all the steps and methods.

The first thing they did with the body was a special device (most likely it was an ebonite stick - a prototype of a modern scalpel; an incision was made in the groin area in order to remove the insides). They took everything from a person except the heart, because it was in it, according to the beliefs of the Egyptians, that the soul lived. The removed body parts were washed with water and special compounds, oils and incense (most likely this was done in order to remove the unpleasant odor and destroy harmful organisms that could begin the process of decay).

Each organ (lungs, stomach, liver, intestines) was cleansed, treated with certain oils and infusions, and then immersed in jars, where these parts of the body were kept. The lid of each vessel was made in the shape of a specific deity, who was responsible for one or another interior.

As for the brain, it was obtained using a special method. Using a long hook, they penetrated the skull through the nostrils or a special hole in the nose and extracted the contents piece by piece. Another option is to use the same hook to liquefy (loose) the brain, and then turn the body over and pour it out through the nostrils.

When the internal organs were removed, the corpse was coated with salt, oil compounds and soda and left to dry for 40 days. Baking soda and salt removed moisture from the body, oils had a bactericidal effect, and compounds of some spices were used to remove unpleasant odors.

After the allotted period had passed, the remnants of the used products were removed from the body, and it was coated with special compounds based on oils and bitumen resin. To give the dried remains shape and volume, sawdust, sand, and salt were placed in the cavity and the holes were sewn up. To make the mummy resemble a deceased person, they could put on a prepared mask or make up, make an imitation of eyeballs and teeth.

The last step was to wrap the body with bandages or long strips of cloth. They were soaked in resin, which was used instead of glue, incense and oils. So that the human spirit could successfully reincarnate, gold jewelry, coins, and pieces of papyrus were placed between the balls of fabric with a prayer for resurrection. Having completed all these stages, the finished mummy was handed over to relatives, who placed it in a sarcophagus (similar to a modern coffin), made in the form of a person, which was placed in the family tomb.

As you can see, the process of mummification in Ancient Egypt was a very long and complex process that took a lot of time and effort and required certain knowledge and skills. The most famous mummies that have survived to this day are considered to be the remains of the priest Pa DiIsta, Tutankhamun, Ramses II, Seti I. All of them were carefully studied in order to understand all the nuances of life and the social system.

No matter how many secrets and terrible stories surround the mummies of Ancient Egypt, they will attract the eyes and attention of scientists, travelers and prey hunters.

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Egyptian mummies

A mummy is a body preserved by embalming. A mummy is a body (not only of a person, but also of any other living creature) that has been subjected to special chemical treatment, as a result of which the process of tissue decomposition stops or slows down. The word “mummy” first appears in European languages (Byzantine, Greek and Latin) around the year 1,000. It comes from the Persian word “mum” (“wax”). The word “mumia” was used by Arab and Jewish medieval healers to designate a special medicine. The ancient Egyptians themselves called mummies “sahu”.

Ancient Egypt is probably the most famous civilization of the ancient world that made mummies from the dead. In the common consciousness, the mummies of the pharaohs are most associated with Ancient Egypt, which attract interest with their mystery and belonging to the cult of death.

The ancient Egyptians believed that after death a person goes to the afterlife. Therefore, the bodies of the richest and most influential residents of the country were necessarily mummified after death. This was done with pharaohs, high priests, and aristocrats. The process of processing a corpse was full of various subtleties that were known only in Ancient Egypt.

Superstitious residents of the African country believed that the mummies of the pharaohs helped their owners to go unhindered to the afterlife. There was a strong belief in the popular consciousness that rulers were of divine origin, which made their connection with supernatural phenomena even closer. In addition, the mummies of the pharaohs were buried in special tombs - pyramids. This style of architecture was a uniquely Egyptian invention. Nothing like this was built then either in the Mediterranean or in Mesopotamia. The most famous are

Mummification

The Egyptians believed that death was a transition to another world where the dead would need their bodies. To prevent the body from decomposing, it was subjected to special treatment - embalming. The result was a mummy that was preserved for thousands of years. Embalming was very expensive, therefore, the highest quality services were available only to the rich. Mummies were also made from the bodies of sacred animals - monkeys, cats and crocodiles. The mummy was placed in several wooden coffins, nested one inside the other, and placed in a stone sarcophagus.

Mummification was considered the destiny of the elite, but, in fact, it could be bought if a person wanted to ensure a quiet stay in the afterlife, and also if he had enough money for this. But there were also procedures available only to pharaohs and members of their family. For example, only their organs were placed in special vessels (canopic jars).

The masters who engaged in mummification were privileged members of society. They knew the science of embalming, inaccessible to others. Over the centuries of the existence of Egyptian civilization, these secrets never became known to other peoples.

The embalmer offered the relatives of the deceased several methods of mummification, and those, based on
their financial condition, choose the most acceptable one. After all the conditions were discussed, the craftsmen got to work. The mummification process was carried out not by one “master”, but by a whole team.

The ancient Egyptians considered the heart to be the most important part of the human body. And the brain seemed to them an absolutely useless organ. “First, they remove the brain through the nostrils with an iron hook. This method removes only part of the brain, the rest by injecting dissolving drugs. Then, with a sharp Ethiopian stone, an incision is made just below the abdomen and the entire abdominal cavity is cleared of the entrails. Having cleaned the abdominal cavity and washed it with palm wine, the masters then clean it again with ground incense. Finally, they fill the womb with clean, crushed myrrh, cassia and other incense (except incense) and sew it up again. After this, the body is placed in soda lye for 70 days. However, the body cannot be left in the lye for more than 70 days. After this 70-day period, they wash the body, wrap it in a bandage made of fine linen cut into ribbons and smear it with gum (it is used instead of glue)” (Herodotus, 2.86).

This is the first and best method of embalming as described by Herodotus. The second, cheaper one, is as follows: “Using a washing tube, cedar oil is injected into the abdominal cavity of the deceased, without, however, cutting the groin or removing the entrails. They inject oil through the anus and then, plugging it so that the oil does not flow out, they put the body in soda lye for a certain number of days. On the last day, the oil previously poured into it is released from the intestines. The oil is so strong that it decomposes the stomach and entrails, which come out along with the oil. Soda lye decomposes the meat, so that only skin and bones remain from the deceased” (Herodotus, 2.87).

The third method, intended for the poor, is even simpler: “Radish juice is poured into the abdominal cavity and then the body is placed in soda lye for 70 days. After this, the body is returned to its relatives” (Herodotus, 2.88).

Organs removed from the corpses of pharaohs and members of their families were not thrown away or destroyed. They were also preserved. After removal, the organs were washed and then immersed in special vessels with balm - canopic jars. In total, each mummy was given four canopic jars. The canopic lids, as a rule, were decorated with the heads of four gods - the sons of Horus: Hapi, who has the head of a baboon; Duamutef, with the head of a jackal; Quebehsenuf, who has the head of a falcon, and Imset, who has a human head. Certain organs were placed in certain canopic jars: Imset stored the liver, Duamutef the stomach, Kebeksenuf the intestines, and Hapi contained the lungs.

The organs in the vessels were kept next to the mummy's sarcophagus. The secrets of the pharaohs were buried with their bodies. All personal belongings were placed in the tomb, which, according to the religious conviction of the ancient Egyptians, would also serve their owners regularly in the other world. The same thing happened with the organs that were supposed to return to the pharaohs when they found themselves on the other side of existence.

The mummies of the pharaohs of Egypt were also treated by cosmetologists and hairdressers. At the last stage, the body was covered with a special oil made from wax, resin and other natural ingredients. During mummification, the deceased retains his lifetime facial features. Many Egyptians kept their dead relatives at home, and, since they were well preserved, admired them.

Members of the same family, as a rule, had their own tomb, which became the family crypt. The ancient capital of Egypt was the city of Thebes. It is in its place that the famous Valley of the Kings is located. This is a vast necropolis in which many mummies of the pharaohs were kept. The valley was discovered almost by accident by the scientist brothers Rasul during their expedition in 1871. Since then, the work of archaeologists here has not stopped for a single day.

Mumiyo is mine

The value of a mummy lies in the jewels that surround it and the historical significance, from understanding the embalming process to genetic research. But, some time ago, mummies represented another rather strange interest...

Mumiyo is an organo-mineral product of alternative medicine of natural origin. Mumiyo resembles that thick black composition that the Egyptians used to embalm the bodies of the dead from the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. Since the demand for this remedy was very high, in later times the hardened mass began to be cleaned from skulls and remains of bones, scraped out of body cavities and processed. In case of acute deficiency, there was no need to be scrupulous: the mysterious embalming agent was smeared along with dried muscle fibers and skeletal remains. Mumiyo obtained in this way could be supplied in large quantities.

Mumiyo was the name of an earthen, or rather mineral, resin known under the Greek name “asphalt”. It was highly valued as a remedy for various types of bodily ailments. But rare raw materials were clearly not enough. This craft of mumiyo began the monstrous robbery of Egyptian tombs. At first it was about a universal remedy, then pure devilry began. The extract extracted from mummies was not cheap. Enterprising merchants of Alexandria made sure that mumiyo became an important export item to Europe. They hired whole crowds of Egyptian peasants to excavate necropolises. Corporations of merchants exported ground human bones to all corners of the world - and made a good profit.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, mumiyo became a common remedy sold in pharmacies and medicinal herbal shops. When raw materials again became scarce, they began to use the corpses of executed criminals, the bodies of those who died in almshouses or dead Christians, drying them in the sun. This is how “real mummies” were made! In addition, gangs of robbers stole freshly buried bodies from graves, dismembered them and boiled them in cauldrons until the muscles were separated from the bones; an oily liquid dripped from the cauldron and, poured into bottles, was sold for huge sums of money to the Frankish merchants. According to documents, in 1420, the city judge of Cairo ordered the flogging of several grave desecrators until they admitted that they had dismembered human corpses and, in a kind of “pharmaceutical lard,” processed them into a marketable medicine. And in 1564, the French doctor Guy de la Fontaine from Navarre, in the warehouse of one of the merchants in Alexandria, discovered piles of bodies of slaves that were intended for processing into the notorious drug.

Egyptian authorities tried to put an end to the trade in corpses by passing a law. However, no regulations have been able to curb the export of mumiyo. The profits were so high and tempting that transports with large loads of mumiyo (mummies) continued to cross the Mediterranean Sea and reach Europe.

Over the centuries, dozens of recipes have been cited for making medicines using, for example, a quarter ounce of powder from a mummy or a piece of its burial cloth. Magical recommendations were also given: the mummy’s hand, lying in a box made of Lebanese cedar, protects the house and property from misfortune, and the nail from the mummy’s middle finger, worn around the neck in a silk bag, ensures the friendly attitude of others.

Among the goods brought from Egypt to Europe, mummies were considered the most expensive. Ivory, precious stones, gold and Chinese silk were less valuable. True, when more ancient remains began to be found in Egypt, prices for them decreased.

Mummies were very difficult to transport. The crew often began to protest loudly, threatening to abandon the ship - the sailors were afraid of the death of the galley and other misfortunes. Sometimes, however, prayers and sprinkling mummies with holy water helped. According to the stories of many sailors, ghosts in ancient Egyptian robes appeared on board sailing ships trying to take the remains of ancient inhabitants out of Egypt, and angry voices were heard in the roar of the storm, shouting curses in an incomprehensible language.

The captain of the French galley La Belle Laurence, which in 1729, by order of a certain Marseilles collector, was transporting two sarcophagi with mummies, upon arrival swore that during the entire two-week journey in front of the ship, misty figures glided along the waves - an elderly man and a young woman in flowing clothes.

Charlatans and pharmacists dissolved the remains of mummies in wine vinegar and vegetable oils and made ointments that supposedly helped with pneumonia and pleurisy. The French doctor Savary believed so much in the healing power of this drug that he considered it proven that only completely black and pleasantly smelling mummies have a positive therapeutic effect. Kings, princes and ordinary townspeople continued to search for the drug, which was rumored to have fabulous properties. People no longer saw the difference between the natural medicine of antiquity and the disgusting mixture that was sold on the market. Mumiyo became synonymous with mummies, and mummies themselves remained the basis for the manufacture of medicines until the 19th century.

The dead, both ordinary and noble, were dragged out of the tombs, torn to pieces while still in the burial chambers; They were first turned into dust and ashes, and then, in sealed porcelain vessels, they were sent to the international market. Thus, the remains of those who lived during the era of the pharaohs were exported from Egypt in unlimited quantities. They became unwitting victims of scientific research and superstitions associated with magic. Perhaps such superstitions have not been eliminated to this day. For example, in some American pharmacies, you can still buy several ounces of a mixture of “real” mumiyo.

Cheops mummy

One of the most famous is the mummy of Pharaoh Cheops. His figure was famous ancient historians, including Herodotus. This pharaoh was truly great, even in comparison with his predecessors and successors, because the names of many pharaohs were not preserved at all in any historical source.

Cheops was a despot who severely punished his subjects for any mistake. He was merciless towards his enemies. This character was familiar to the rulers of Ancient Egypt, whose power, as contemporaries believed, came from the gods, which gave the pharaohs carte blanche for any whims. At the same time, the people did not try to resist. Also, Cheops became known for fighting in the Sinai Peninsula against the Bedouins.

But the greatest achievement of this pharaoh is the pyramid that was built for his own mummy. The rulers of Egypt prepared for their death in advance. Already during the life of the pharaoh, the construction of his pyramid began, where he was supposed to find eternal peace. However, the Cheops pyramid amazed all contemporaries and distant descendants with its size. The lost mummy of an Egyptian pharaoh was kept inside a huge labyrinth of corridors, inside a structure 137 meters high. Cheops himself chose the location of his tomb. It became a plateau on the territory of the modern city of Giza. In his era, this was the northern edge of the cemetery of ancient Memphis, the capital of Egypt.

Together with the pyramid, a monumental sculpture of the Great Sphinx was created, which is known throughout the world no worse than the pyramid itself. Cheops hoped that over time a whole complex of ritual buildings dedicated to his dynasty would appear on this site.

Mummy of Ramses II

Another great pharaoh of Egypt was Ramses II. He ruled almost his entire long life (1279 - 1213 BC). His name went down in history thanks to a series of military campaigns against his neighbors. The most famous conflict is with the Hittites. The warlike pharaoh also went down in history as a great peacemaker. When he was tired of skirmishes on the border with the Hittites, he concluded the first peace treaty known in the history of mankind: by an alliance with another power, he established peace for 50 years. Ramses built a lot during his lifetime. He founded several cities, most of which were named after him.

Ramses, despite his many royal duties, also found time for his wives. And there were at least six main ones and a dozen just spouses and concubines, who brought him about a hundred children. As a teenager, Ramses received a whole harem as a gift from his father. The pharaoh himself recalled this with gratitude: “He made sure that my harem was as beautiful as his own.” And my father’s choice turned out to be good. Obviously, of these first consorts, one turned out to be special - for 25 years Nefertari remained the embodiment of charm, friendliness and love and, as the pharaoh himself swore, his most trusted confidante. And it was she who gave birth to the first son of Amonherkhopeshef, whose hot blood appeared at the age of five, during a military campaign.

But Nefertari had to share her husband with her rivals, to whom the pharaoh often bestowed his favor while fulfilling his diplomatic duty. The loving Ramses shared his bed with his closest relatives. At least one of his sisters and two daughters were legally married to him. And the daughter Meri-Tamun, apparently, after the death of her mother Nefertari, took her place as the Great Queen.

Ramses II was probably over 90 when he died in the 67th year of his reign. X-rays of the mummy convincingly show that his body was affected by arthritis and that the elderly pharaoh lived for a long time in severe insanity. But he didn't want to die. Ramses outlived twelve heirs. The thirteenth son, Merenptah, was already 60 years old at the time of his father’s death - the eldest, but still a living son. As the new pharaoh, Merenptah led a procession that headed to the tomb that had long been prepared for his father in the Valley of the Kings...

Unlike the pharaohs of the Old Kingdom, who found rest in tombs near the pyramids, the rulers of the New Kingdom built their necropolis on the slope of Mount Kurn - carved into the rocks, with well-hidden entrances and false passages inside. In the darkness, and with an imperceptible stone threshold, thousand-year-old tombs with luxurious ornaments, statues, sarcophagi and treasures awaited their explorer. Thus, the family mausoleum of Pharaoh Ramses II was discovered in the Valley of the Kings. In a huge tomb, the ancient Egyptians apparently buried 52 sons of Ramses, heirs to the throne, many of whom were survived by their own father. Here, apparently, all the offspring of the pharaoh, who during their lifetime suffered from their powerful, imperious and tenacious father and all the time quarreled with each other over his inheritance, were finally united in death.

“This was the tenth, last and most terrible plague of Egypt, which the God of the people sent - all the firstborn in Egypt must die, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the slave girl who is at the millstones.”

First, the mummy of Pharaoh Ramses was placed in the crypt of his own father. It is not known exactly when it was plundered, but eventually the priests found a new place for the body. It was a carefully hidden cache that belonged to Pharaoh Herihor. Mummies from other tombs robbed by robbers were also placed there. These were the bodies of Thutmose III and Ramses III.

In 1881, the intact mummy of Ramses II fell into the hands of scientists. When they unwrapped the body, which had remained under a tight shroud for three thousand years, some muscle in it straightened - and in front of the scientists, the pharaoh raised his hand. This was the last royal gesture of the great Ramses. In 1975, the remains were subjected to a unique modern conservation procedure that preserved a surviving artifact of the past. The greatest of the pharaohs is now a museum exhibit. His withered body is on display in a glass case at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

The Egyptian Museum of Cairo is a real accumulation of antiquities and mumouys. There are always a lot of people there. On one of the usual hot days, when the stuffiness enveloped the halls of the museum, after sunset the electric light in the building was turned on. And then the irreparable happened. A drawn-out sound was heard from the sarcophagus where the mummy of Pharaoh Ramses II was kept. The hinges of the tomb creaked. And then those present saw a picture that made everyone tremble. The mouth of the king's mummy was twisted with an inaudible scream. The body trembled, the embalming bandages burst, and the arms crossed on the chest straightened, hitting the glass lid of the sarcophagus with force. The fragments scattered in different directions. People rushed up the stairs in panic, and some of the guests jumped out the window.

In the morning press all the circumstances of this shocking event were discussed with gusto. However, the Ministry of Antiquities in its comments indicated that, in fact, the explanation for such strange “behavior of the mummy” is quite simple. The crowd of people in the hall created unbearable stuffiness and humidity. And the mummy should be kept in the dry air of a cool tomb.

Whatever the climatic conditions, the mummy froze, turning his head in a northern direction - towards the Valley of the Kings. The broken glass was soon replaced. The hands were swaddled, as before, in a cruciform position. However, the face of the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt remained turned to the north.

Tutankhamun's mummy

But the mummy of Tutankhamun is most famous. This pharaoh ruled at a young age from 1332 to 1323 BC.
ad. He died at the age of 18 - 20 years. During his lifetime, he did not stand out in any way among his predecessors and successors. His name became known due to the fact that his tomb was untouched by ancient looters.

Who was the last person the pharaoh's almond-shaped eyes saw before closing forever? Scientists who have studied Tutankhamun's mummy are inclined to believe that he died violently. Scientists took about 50 x-rays of the head of the pharaoh's mummy, which has been perfectly preserved to this day. The photographs clearly show that the bones of the skull are unusually thin in the ear area. This gave reason to believe that one or even several blows were struck in this exact place. Most likely, scientists suggest, Tutankhamun actually received a blow to the temple with some kind of blunt object, say, a wooden gong hammer. But he only stunned him. Then came the second blow, fatal for the pharaoh, who before this, it seems, had been prudently drugged. However, even then the mortally wounded Tutankhamun tried to rise. He was given strength by a reflex developed by the ancient Egyptians, associated with the belief that the victim must see his killer before death, so that her ghost, having parted with her bodily shell, would relentlessly pursue the tormentor. But who could dare to kill the pharaoh?

Tutankhamun's wife, 16-year-old Akhnesepaaten, apparently, after all, sincerely loved her husband. One of the evidence of this is the bouquet of modest wildflowers she placed in the sarcophagus of the deceased, which, having lain there for over three thousand years (!!!), appeared intact before the admiring eyes of the scientists who discovered this only unplundered tomb. And yet, love is love, and politics is politics. Ankhesenamun was the daughter of the famous reformer pharaoh Akhenaten and his equally famous beautiful wife Nefertiti. The period of Tutankhamun's reign was the time when Egypt emerged from the civil war caused by the struggle between two religious movements. The murder of Tutankhamun was, apparently, the last desperate attempt by Akhenaten’s supporters to assert themselves and try to regain power. But this is only one of the possible versions of the death of the young pharaoh.

However, the mummy of the Egyptian pharaoh itself refutes violent death. The tomb in which she was kept was full of bottles of malaria medicine. Modern DNA analysis has not ruled out the possibility that the young man suffered from a serious illness, due to which he died prematurely.

We got closer to the truth after studying the gene background of his family. “The artifacts showed that the kings of the 18th dynasty had an androgynous appearance and an unknown form of gynecomastia,” the scientific council announced. This conclusion was made after examining the mummy of Tutankhamun’s grandfather, his father and two stillborn children discovered in his tomb. As it turned out, two children were born from the marriage of the boy pharaoh to his half-sister Ankhesenamun.

Tutankhamun, as it turned out, suffered from a bunch of serious illnesses. He had brittle bones and wolfish
mouth The boy had a clubfoot and was dragging his left leg - his left foot was twisted. Congenital dislocation. A more thorough scan showed that the boy was far from handsome. But it’s hard to call him a freak either. Although Tutankhamun's teeth were crooked. In addition, the pharaoh also had genetic ailments: which turned him almost into a woman - with thick thighs and the semblance of mammary glands.

Scientists from London also suggest that Tutankhamun had epilepsy. “It is assumed that the heir to the dynasty suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy, which is transmitted through the male line. People with this disease show activity and religious zeal when exposed to sunlight."

Perhaps Tutankhamun was the weakest and most infirm of the pharaohs. The clue to his state of health lay in his tomb, where about 130 walking sticks were found. It was the tomb of Tutankhamun that allowed modern science to recreate the environment in which the mummies of the pharaohs of Egypt were buried.

Curses of the Egyptian Pharaohs

The Egyptians tried to make the graves inaccessible to living people - they blocked the entrances to underground tombs with tons of rubble and stones, created false passages, and carefully disguised the real ones, setting up deadly traps. The inscriptions on the tombs threatened the curious with terrible death and deprivation of the afterlife - “their bodies will not wait for repose, punishment will fall on their descendants.” And sometimes, if the criminals knew how to read, it helped.

The mystery of the “curse of the Egyptian pharaohs,” which has haunted the minds of historians, archaeologists, doctors and simply curious people around the world for decades, still remains unsolved. Where did all this come from?

In the 60s of the 19th century, a wealthy Englishman, Douglas Murray, who was collecting a collection of unique items, bought a lid taken by “tomb robbers” from the sarcophagus of an Egyptian mummy. A couple of days after the acquisition, during a hunt, a gun exploded in Murray’s hands, and the collector lost his hand. A little later, the lid of the sarcophagus was lent by him to a private exhibition in another city and sent by ship. During those few days while she was in the hold, the unfortunate ship burned twice.

The biggest misfortune befell Murray’s acquaintance, who helped him acquire part of the sarcophagus. She received news of the death of her husband, son and two sisters during a flood in . The lady immediately went to the British colony for the funeral of her relatives, but the ship hit a reef and sank near the Cape of Good Hope.

In 1860, during excavations of the pyramid, five local residents found a tomb with the mummy of the great priestess of the temple of Pharaoh Amenemhat II Amon-Ra from the city of Great Thebes. The sarcophagus with the mummy was bought from them by four English archaeologists. The Arabs started a quarrel among themselves over the money they received, which ended in a bloody fight. They all died from the stab wounds they received. These were the first five victims of the Egyptian priestess.

An Egyptologist transporting the mummy to Cairo injured his finger on the sarcophagus, resulting in blood poisoning. Surgeons had to urgently amputate his arm to save his life (think about it, because of the scratch!). The scientist's assistant, who was involved in sending the mummy to London, soon shot himself. The third member of the archaeological expedition died of fever. The fourth was crushed in the street by a dray driver's cart...

The next owner, a London antique dealer, lost his young wife on the third day after acquiring the mummy: she died after falling from a horse. A journalist who was preparing an article about the priestess of Amon-Ra for a ladies' magazine, during a month of working on the report, a number of misfortunes occurred: her mother died, her fiancé broke off their engagement, and two young and healthy spaniels unexpectedly died. The girl fell into severe depression and refused to work on the article. Friends helped her find a Scottish witch who performed special cleansing rituals to get rid of evil spells.

The photographer, who was commissioned by the Egyptian authorities to take photographs of the priestess, went crazy. His imagination painted him terrible pictures - the priestess came to life and thirsted for the blood of the people who awakened her. To the horror of witnesses, a mask appeared on the photo negatives that did not in any way resemble the face of the Theban priestess painted on the lid of the sarcophagus. The second photographer died eight days after filming from sunstroke (!).

Scientists refused further research and in 1889 the fatal exhibit was transferred to the British Museum. During its transportation, one of the loaders broke his leg, and the second fell ill with some mysterious disease and after a couple of days gave his soul to God.

The object was cataloged as number 22542 and placed in the first Egyptian Hall. Soon rumors spread that the curator of the Egyptian collection of the museum, Sir Ernest Badge, who was keenly interested in magic, during one of the seances received a secret order to get rid of the mummy and preserve only the empty sarcophagus. They said that for a very long time they could not find a buyer for the remains of the priestess. It was not until 1912 that an eccentric American millionaire acquired the mummy and sent it to the New World aboard the steamer Hampshire. On the way to New York, the ship sank. There are other versions of the disappearance of the mummy. In any case, since then the sarcophagus has been empty.

In 1921, at night, in the presence of several witnesses, a ritual of exorcism was performed in the museum. But it is unknown whether he helped - almost every day those who stare too long at the image of the calm, thoughtful face of the deceased priestess faint at the glass display case with the sarcophagus. And museum workers, especially night watchmen, claim that from time to time in the corridors adjacent to the hall you can see the ghost of a woman wrapped in linen ribbons, with her hands tightly pressed to her body, easily gliding through the air...

In 1890, Professor Soren Resden from Göttingen excavated a burial place in the Valley of the Kings and immediately
came across an ominous warning: “Whoever desecrates the tomb of the temple scribe Shinar will be swallowed up forever by the sand before the moon changes its face twice.” Resden, however, continued his work, and having completed the excavations, he soon sailed from Egypt. He was found dead in the cabin - the ship's doctor stated strangulation without the use of violence. To the amazement of those present, a handful of sand spilled out of the deceased’s fist...

On April 4, 1912, one of the most grandiose ships in history, the Titanic, set sail from the shores of Southampton. He was going to New York. There were two thousand passengers on board the ship. It was led by one of the best captains, Sea Wolf Smith, who has an excellent reputation and has not made a single mistake in his entire career. But on this day, something unimaginable happened to him: he gave orders without being completely aware of their consequences. He ordered to increase the speed and changed the direction of the ship.

About 40 thousand kg of supplies were placed in the holds of the Titanic: vegetables, fruits, 7 thousand bags of forage, 35 thousand eggs... and one mummy of Ancient Egypt. She was transported from London to New York by Lord Canterville. The remains belonged to the famous Egyptian oracle Amenophis IV. Under the head of the mummy was a figurine of Osiris, on which were inscribed the words: “Rise from the dust and all who stand in your way will perish.” After some organizational measures, it was decided to place it near the captain’s hold. Victims of the mummy curse have been known to suffer from mental confusion and delirium. Maybe it was this mummy of Ancient Egypt that became a trap for Captain Smith? After all, we all know very well what ultimately happened to the Titanic and how many people died...

In December 1993, the tomb of Pharaoh Peteti and his wife was opened in Giza. The age of the tomb was about 4,600 years. Archaeologists were attracted by the inscription: “The great goddess Hathor will twice punish anyone who dares to desecrate this grave.” These words turned out to be not an empty threat. The head of the excavations, Zaki Hawass, suddenly suffered a heart attack, which almost led to death. An earthquake destroyed the house of his fellow archaeologist, who was at an excavation site. Ultimately, the train carrying the recovered treasures derailed and most of the artifacts were completely destroyed.

But the most famous story about the curse of the mummies is associated with the misfortunes that befell everyone who was present at the opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb. As is known, the leaders of the expedition, the English Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter, their secretaries, servants, as well as members of their families and even dogs died under mysterious circumstances within several years after the opening of the tomb.

Over the course of several years, one by one, all the members of the expedition who carried out excavations and extracted treasures from the tomb, and those who were involved in the study of the mummy of the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, died. Only 22 people. For all of them, death was equally unpredictable and fleeting. Death did not spare doctors, linguists, world-famous historians: La Flor, Callender, Winlock, Estori...

Lord Carnarvon, who financed the excavations, died on April 5, 1923, four months after visiting the tomb at Cairo's Continental Hotel from pneumonia, and almost immediately hoaxes arose around his death.

On May 16, 1923, 59-year-old American financier George Gould, who also visited the tomb, died of transient pneumonia due to a fever caught in Egypt.

On July 10, 1923, a member of the Egyptian royal family, Prince Ali Kamel Fahmy Bey, who was present at the opening of the tomb, was shot and killed by his wife.

On September 26, 1923, after dental surgery, Carnarvon's half-brother, traveler and diplomat Colonel Aubrey Gerber, died of blood poisoning.

X-ray scanning of the mummy removed from the golden sarcophagus of Tutankhamun was entrusted to Archibald Juglas
Reed. His work was carried out flawlessly and was highly praised by experts. But as soon as he arrived home, he felt a sharp attack of nausea, weakness, and after two hours of delirium he died.

On November 19, 1924, Governor General Sir Lee Stack was shot dead by a terrorist in Cairo.

On April 6, 1928, archaeologist Arthur Mace died at the age of 54. His health gradually deteriorated since the discovery of the tomb and was the subject of attention and speculation in the press; it was officially stated that the explorer died from arsenic poisoning.

On May 26, 1929, Carnarvon's younger half-brother Marvin Herbert died of "pneumonia secondary to malaria."

On November 15, 1929, Carter's secretary, Captain Richard Bartel, died unexpectedly. A young, healthy man's heart failed. The story of the pharaoh's curse spread throughout Europe.

On 20 February 1930, Bartel's father Sir Richard, Baron Westbury, jumped from a seventh-floor window; According to some newspaper reports, a hearse carrying the baron's body crushed a boy to death in the street.

Geoffrey Dean, who holds the position of chief physician at the Port Elizabeth Hospital in, found a virus - a fungus that caused symptoms in patients: dizziness, weakness, loss of reason. Any animal, including bats, could become spreaders of pathogenic microorganisms. They were the permanent inhabitants of the chambers of the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. This disease is transmitted by the respiratory tract, therefore, Lord Carnarvon’s nurse soon suffered the same fate.

In 1962, after the announcement of the results of Dr. Dean's research on pathogenic bacteria, physician Ezzeddine Taha from Cairo University convened a special meeting. For a long time, Dr. Taha monitored the health of archaeologists and staff members of the Egyptian Museum who worked with the mummy. In their lungs he discovered the presence of microscopic fungi Aspergillus niger, which remained closed for a long time in pyramids and tombs. The scientist concluded that one can now quite safely go in search of new treasures, since there is a vaccine against these pathogenic bacteria. Perhaps science would have known the true reasons for the death of Lord Carnarvon and the team members if he himself had not suffered the same fate: the curse killed Taha.

A deserted road in the middle of the sand between Cairo and Suez. A car passing by here is a rarity. No road markings, signs, sharp turns or descents. Dr. Taha and his two colleagues traveled along this road to Suez. An accident occurred on the road, they crashed into a limousine: all three died on the spot, the passengers and the driver of the other car were not injured. During the autopsy, an embolism was discovered in the doctor’s respiratory tract - a rupture of the vessels of the respiratory tract...

Even if we take into account the fact that fungi caused the death of Lord Carnarvon and his entourage, the circumstances of the death of other people associated with the discovery of the pharaoh's tomb remained a mystery. Scientists have also put forward a version that in Ancient Egypt there was a known recipe for preparing poison using these same microorganisms. He served as the best protector for the treasures of the tombs and the peace of the pharaohs.

But what happened to the fate of Govar Carter, who spent many years, day after day, in a stuffy crypt in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor? He was tormented by constant migraines and suffered from hallucinations. However, he lived for quite a long time after the opening of the tomb. It can be assumed that due to long contact with these bacteria, his body has developed immunity.

Along with poisonous mixtures, there were other protective agents that were used by priests in Ancient Egypt to protect burials with mummies, including in pyramids. According to the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, the essence of the human “I” was embodied in three substances: “Hat” is its physical shell, “Ba”, which personified the spiritual force, that is, the soul, and “Ka”, which represented the unity of Hat and Ba. The inner essence of each person, his Ka, is individual and unique. This principle provides a protective shell for the energy field and ensures the connection of the two principles.

Ka controls only the living body. Once a person goes to the Kingdom of the Dead of Osiris, Ka loses control and peace. In order to soften the fate of Ka, prayers were read and sacrifice rituals were performed. The appearance of the deceased was depicted on sarcophagi and tombs. They helped Ka find a new shell and incarnate in him. For this reason, Ka was tied to the burial site. The angry spirit, left without its abode, body, did not spare anyone. The ancient Egyptians firmly believed in his existence and feared his wrath. There were also those who skillfully controlled this energy, mainly priests.

This explains that it was not ordinary citizens who were engaged in robberies; they would not have dared to disturb the peace of the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. The tombs were plundered by those who possessed knowledge and had the appropriate rank during the performance of religious services. They had information about the exact location of the tomb and the treasures.

Scientists have determined that Tutankhamun's tomb has already been opened. This is evidenced, as Carter himself claimed, by the royal seals. The burial site was probably discovered by Oremheb, who was the chief military commander under Pharaoh Tutankhamun in Ancient Egypt. After the death of the young king, he took his throne, continuing the dynastic line. Whether Oremheb was to blame for his death has not been proven by science. But it is known that he made every effort to erase the name of Tut from the walls of all temples and shrines. By the way, he had unlimited power over the priests. However, for an unknown reason, a few years after the opening of the tomb, the pharaoh's mummy was returned to the place where it had lain in complete solitude and darkness for several centuries.

It is known that before the closing of the tomb of the pharaohs, a ritual of bloody sacrifice was performed near it. Many slaves participating in the construction of the tomb died. They knew the entrances and exits, the location of the corridors and cells. But this was not the only reason. Their Ka essence, which did not find peace in the crypt, was bound to inevitably destroy in anger anyone who entered the tomb. But modern science is unlikely to be able to explain this ancient Egyptian religious custom...

The tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun was not the only site of excavations in the Valley of the Kings. Archaeologists have discovered hundreds of walled crypts with mummies here. Did they all bear the same mark of the curse?

Archaeologist Belzoni spent several years conducting research in Luxor. Here's what he said about his work: “The Valley of the Kings or, as it is even more accurately called the “Valley of the Dead,” is one of the most mysterious, but at the same time, the darkest and most damned places on earth. We have carried out a number of works in this area, and what can I tell you. Working conditions are terrible. The stuffiness of the narrow rooms of the tombs makes it difficult to breathe. Many workers faint. And all this in heat of +45 - +60°C. Fine sand—limestone—is constantly falling from the ceiling. The lungs are saturated with this mixture. The nose and throat are not breathing. Also, don't forget, we are surrounded by a lot of mummies that are giving off fumes. Sunlight practically does not penetrate these places. We light candles or torches, while seeing a terrible spectacle of mummies around us. One day I accidentally sat on someone's mummified remains instead of a wooden chair. It was an unpleasant feeling."

Perhaps the ancient Egyptians used radioactive radiation to protect the chambers of the pharaohs. The famous Egyptologist Goneim noted: “It has long been scientifically proven that when carrying out mummification, the ancient Egyptians used resins extracted from the Red Sea coast. They contained radioactive particles. Bandages of mummies found in tombs were impregnated with this substance. Obviously, the dust in the crypts was a source of radiation. This suggests that the ancient Egyptians used this substance during religious rites. Most likely, they personified him with the incarnation of Ra - the cult of the Sun."

But, quite recently, a group of physicists from the National Center for Nuclear Research ARE refuted this theory. According to experts, Egyptian mummies found at different times in ancient burials do not contain any radioactive elements and are absolutely safe for human health.

Using the most modern equipment, specialists spent almost a year studying more than 500 mummies located in various museums in Egypt. Not only the remains of such legendary figures as pharaohs Ramses II and Amenhotep, exhibited in the Cairo National Museum, but also the mummies of hundreds of unknown viziers and associates, which were kept at the medical faculty of Qasr al-Aini University, were subjected to examination. The experiments carried out allowed us to state with confidence: there are no sources of harmful radiation in mummies.

Even in the days of silent cinema, films appeared in which mummies, revived or revived through the efforts of sorcerers, pursued people, strangled them, and drove them to suicide. Fiction. Fairy tales. And yet... Modern bioenergy therapists who have studied Egyptian antiquities unanimously claim that mummies have a very negative energy field, therefore, they need to be studied with extreme caution. It seems that the mysteries of ancient Egyptian civilization will never be completely solved.

Johannes Krause, a paleogeneticist from the University of Tübingen, reported that the genome of three of the 151 mummies that German researchers worked with was completely restored. Their DNA was well preserved despite the hot Egyptian climate, high humidity in the burial sites and the chemicals used for embalming.

Restoring the genome promises, albeit in the distant future, the restoration of its owner as well. By cloning. Which would suit the ancient Egyptians, who hoped to somehow and someday rise from the dead. For this reason they became mummies. As if they foresaw that the remains of flesh and bones would be useful...

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In popular culture, the ritual of mummification is associated exclusively with ancient Egypt. This is explained by the fact that it was Egyptian mummies that became known to our distant ancestors. But modern historians have also discovered a more ancient culture that practiced mummification. This is the South American culture of the Andean Indians Chinchorro: mummies dating back to the 9th millennium BC were found here. But still, the attention of modern historians is focused specifically on Egyptian mummies - who knows what secrets these well-preserved dead may hide.

In Egypt, mummification began only in 4500 BC. Such an exact date was revealed by excavations by an English expedition carried out in 1997. Egyptologists attribute the earliest burials of mummies to the so-called Baddari archaeological culture: at that time, the Egyptians wrapped the limbs and heads of the dead in flax and matting, impregnated with a special composition.

Ancient evidence

Historians have still not been able to recreate the process of classical mummification of antiquity. The fact is that the only evidence preserved today about the stages of mummification belongs to ancient authors, including such great philosophers as Herodotus, Plutarch and Diodorus. At the time of these travelers, the classical process of mummification of the New Kingdom had already deteriorated.

Storage vessels

All organs removed from the corpse were carefully preserved. They were washed with a special composition and then placed in vessels with balm, canopic jars. There were 4 canopic jars per mummy - their lids were decorated with the heads of the gods: Hapi (baboon), Dumautef (jackal), Quebehsenuf (falcon), Imset (man).

Honey and shell

There were other, more sophisticated ways to embalm the deceased. For example, the body of Alexander the Great was mummified in an unusual “white honey” that never melted. In the early dynastic period, on the contrary, embalmers resorted to a simpler method: the bodies were covered with plaster, on top of which there was oil painting. This left a shell with dust inside.

Inca mummies

In late 1550, a Spanish official accidentally stumbled upon Inca mummies hidden in a secret cave near Peru. Further research revealed other caves: the Indians had a whole warehouse of mummies - 1365 people who were once the founders of the most important clans of culture.

You've probably all watched horror films about revived mummies attacking people. These sinister dead have always captured the human imagination. However, in reality, mummies do not carry anything terrible, representing incredible archaeological value. In this issue you will find 13 real mummies that have survived to this day and are among the most significant archaeological finds of our time.

A mummy is the body of a dead creature specially treated with a chemical substance, in which the process of tissue decomposition is slowed down. Mummies are stored for hundreds and even thousands of years, becoming a “window” into the ancient world. On the one hand, mummies look creepy, some people get goosebumps just looking at these wrinkled bodies, but on the other hand, they are of incredible historical value, containing interesting information about the life of the ancient world, customs, health and diet of our ancestors .

1. Screaming mummy from the Guanajuato Museum

The Guanajuato Mummies Museum in Mexico is one of the strangest and most terrible in the world, with 111 mummies collected here, which are the naturally preserved mummified bodies of people, most of whom died in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century and were buried in the local cemetery " Pantheon of St. Paula.

The museum's exhibits were exhumed between 1865 and 1958, when a law was in force requiring relatives to pay a tax to have the bodies of their loved ones in the cemetery. If the tax was not paid on time, the relatives lost the right to the burial site and the dead bodies were removed from the stone tombs. As it turned out, some of them were naturally mummified, and they were kept in a special building at the cemetery. Distorted facial expressions on some mummies suggest they were buried alive.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, these mummies began to attract tourists, and cemetery workers began charging fees for visiting the premises where they were kept. The official date of establishment of the Museum of Mummies in Guanajuato is 1969, when mummies were exhibited in glass shelves. Now the museum is visited annually by hundreds of thousands of tourists.

2. Mummy of a boy from Greenland (Kilakitsoq town)

Near the Greenlandic settlement of Qilakitsoq, located on the western coast of the largest island in the world, an entire family was discovered in 1972, mummified by low temperatures. Nine perfectly preserved bodies of the ancestors of the Eskimos, who died on the territory of Greenland at a time when the Middle Ages reigned in Europe, aroused keen interest of scientists, but one of them became famous throughout the world and beyond the scientific framework.

Belonging to a one-year-old child (as anthropologists found, who suffered from Down syndrome), it, more like some kind of doll, makes an indelible impression on visitors to the National Museum of Greenland in Nuuk.

3. Two-year-old Rosalia Lombardo

The Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, Italy, is an eerie place, a necropolis that attracts tourists from all over the world with many mummified bodies in varying states of preservation. But the symbol of this place is the baby face of Rosalia Lombardo, a two-year-old girl who died of pneumonia in 1920. Her father, unable to cope with grief, turned to the famous physician Alfredo Salafia with a request to preserve his daughter’s body.

Now it makes the hair on the head of all visitors to the dungeons of Palermo, without exception, move - amazingly preserved, peaceful and so alive that it seems as if Rosalia only dozed off briefly, it makes an indelible impression.

4. Juanita from the Peruvian Andes

Either still a girl, or already a girl (the age of death is said to be from 11 to 15 years), named Juanita, gained worldwide fame, being included in the ranking of the best scientific discoveries according to Time magazine due to its preservation and eerie history, which after the discovery of the mummy in the ancient scientists told about the Inca settlement in the Peruvian Andes in 1995. Sacrificed to the gods in the 15th century, it has survived to this day in almost perfect condition thanks to the ice of the Andean peaks.

As part of the exhibition of the Museum of Andean Sanctuaries in the city of Arequipa, the mummy often goes on tour, exhibited, for example, at the headquarters of the National Geographic Society in Washington or at many venues in the Land of the Rising Sun, which is generally distinguished by a strange love for mummified bodies.

5. Knight Christian Friedrich von Kahlbutz, Germany

This German knight lived from 1651 to 1702. After his death, his body turned into a mummy naturally and is now on display for everyone to see.

According to legend, the knight Kalbutz was a great fan of taking advantage of the “right of the first night.” The loving Christian had 11 of his own children and about three dozen bastards. In July 1690, he declared his “right of the first night” regarding the young bride of a shepherd from the town of Buckwitz, but the girl refused him, after which the knight killed her newly-made husband. Taken into custody, he swore before the judges that he was not guilty, otherwise “after death his body will not crumble to dust.”

Since Kalbutz was an aristocrat, his word of honor was enough to get him acquitted and released. The knight died in 1702 at the age of 52 and was buried in the von Kalbutze family tomb. In 1783, the last representative of this dynasty died, and in 1794, restoration work was started in the local church, during which the tomb was opened in order to rebury all the dead of the von Kalbutz family in a regular cemetery. It turned out that all of them, except Christian Friedrich, had decayed. The latter turned into a mummy, which proved the fact that the loving knight was still an oathbreaker.

The mummy shown in the photo belongs to Pharaoh Ramses II (Ramses the Great), who died in 1213 BC. e. and is one of the most famous Egyptian pharaohs. It is believed that he was the ruler of Egypt during the campaign of Moses. One of the distinctive features of this mummy is the presence of red hair, symbolizing the connection with the god Set, the patron of royal power.

In 1974, Egyptologists discovered that the mummy of Pharaoh Ramses II was rapidly deteriorating. It was decided to immediately fly it to France for examination and restoration, for which the mummies were issued a modern Egyptian passport, and in the “occupation” column they wrote “king (deceased).” At the Paris airport, the mummy was greeted with all the military honors due to the visit of the head of state.

Mummy of a girl aged 18-19, buried in Denmark in 1300 BC. e. The deceased was a tall, slender girl with long blond hair styled in an intricate updo, somewhat reminiscent of a 1960s babette. Her expensive clothes and jewelry suggest that she belonged to a family of the local elite.

The girl was buried in an oak coffin lined with herbs, so her body and clothes were surprisingly well preserved. The preservation would have been even better if the layer of soil above the grave had not been damaged several years before this mummy was discovered.

Similaun Man, who was about 5,300 years old at the time of his discovery, making him the oldest European mummy, was nicknamed Ötzi by scientists. Discovered on September 19, 1991 by a couple of German tourists while walking in the Tyrolean Alps, who came across the perfectly preserved remains of an inhabitant of the Chalcolithic era thanks to natural ice mummification, it created a real sensation in the scientific world - nowhere in Europe have the bodies of our distant people been found perfectly preserved to this day ancestors

Now this tattooed mummy can be seen in the archaeological museum of Bolzano, Italy. Like many other mummies, Ötzi is allegedly shrouded in a curse: over the course of several years, under various circumstances, several people died, one way or another connected with the study of the Iceman.

The Girl from Ide (Dutch: Meisje van Yde) is the name given to the well-preserved body of a teenage girl discovered in a peat bog near the village of Ide in the Netherlands. This mummy was found on May 12, 1897. The body was wrapped in a woolen cape.

A woven wool noose was tied around the girl’s neck, indicating that she had been executed for some crime or had been sacrificed. There is a trace of a wound in the collarbone area. The skin was not affected by decomposition, which is typical for swamp bodies.

The results of radiocarbon dating carried out in 1992 showed that she died at about 16 years of age between 54 BC. e. and 128 AD e. The corpse's head was half shaved shortly before death. The preserved hair is long and has a reddish tint. But it should be noted that the hair of all corpses that fall into a swampy environment acquires a reddish color as a result of denaturalization of the coloring pigment under the influence of acids found in the swampy soil.

A computed tomography scan determined that during her lifetime she had a curvature of the spine. Further research led to the conclusion that the cause of this was most likely damage to the vertebrae by bone tuberculosis.

Rendswühren Man, who also belongs to the so-called swamp people, was found near the German city of Kiel in 1871. At the time of death, the man was between 40 and 50 years old, and examinations of the body showed that he died from a blow to the head.

The superbly preserved mummy of Seti I and the remains of the original wooden coffin were discovered in the Deir el-Bahri cache in 1881. Seti I ruled Egypt from 1290 to 1279. BC e. The mummy of this pharaoh was buried in a specially prepared tomb.

Seti is a minor character in the science fiction films The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, where he is depicted as a pharaoh who falls victim to a plot by his high priest, Imhotep.

The mummy of this woman, nicknamed the Altai Princess, was found by archaeologists in 1993 on the Ukok plateau and is one of the most significant discoveries in archeology of the late 20th century. Researchers believe that the burial was made in the 5th-3rd centuries BC and dates back to the period of the Pazyryk culture of Altai.

During the excavations, archaeologists discovered that the deck in which the body of the buried woman was placed was filled with ice. That is why the woman’s mummy is well preserved. The burial was walled up in a layer of ice. This aroused great interest among archaeologists, since very ancient things could be well preserved in such conditions. In the chamber they found six horses with saddles and harnesses, as well as a wooden larch block nailed with bronze nails. The contents of the burial clearly indicated the nobility of the buried person.

The mummy lay on its side with its legs slightly pulled up. She had numerous tattoos on her arms. The mummies were wearing a silk shirt, a woolen skirt, felt socks, a fur coat and a wig. All these clothes were made of very high quality and indicate the high status of the buried. She died at a young age (about 25 years old) and belonged to the elite of Pazyryk society.

This is the famous mummy of a 14-15 year old girl who was sacrificed by the Incas more than 500 years ago. It was discovered in 1999 on the slope of the Nevado Sabancaya volcano. Next to this mummy, several more children's bodies were discovered, also mummified. Researchers suggest that these children were chosen among others due to their beauty, after which they walked many hundreds of kilometers across the country, were specially prepared and sacrificed to the gods at the top of the volcano.

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