00:00.00 archaeoteacup Welcome back Everybody hope you manage to you know, get get to the tomb in time and save ev from the hands of of the mummy I Forgotten that name is the name of the main character. The the mummy in the the mummy. 00:07.13 Jess But. 00:14.74 Jess Um Mho tab. Yeah, no no film. Oh yeah, everybody go you watch that film. It's your homework. 00:16.80 archaeoteacup Maybe tap. That's the one hook got honestly. Yeah I just really need to rewach that film. But anyway so getting? yeah we should be should um so something that I usually like to do to get a sort of vague idea of what? um. Those listening might want to know about the topic of the podcast is to look at the most asked questions on the internet courtesy of Google search autofill um to let us see you know what other people are wanting to find out and seeing as we have Jess here with us today. Hopefully we might get some answers about that. 00:52.32 Jess Oh Matilda before we get too far. Um I should clarify that I am not an egyptologist. Um I am a fairly well informed enthusiast um, but if any of your listeners today are in fact, professional egyptologists and I get anything wrong. Or you disagree with my personal opinions. Um, please be very kind. Um, so yes, anyway, so after that disclaimer what has Google asked us today. 01:18.95 archaeoteacup Ah, well there were sort of all sorts of there were some which I thought oh this is a little bit. Ah weird to ask but some of them I thought okay this is very weird but actually is quite interesting. So for example, one was what did mummies look like fresh. 01:35.59 Jess Um, so which layer um. 01:37.59 archaeoteacup I mean I imagine they were just a dead body at the at the underside. 01:43.30 Jess Well yeah, like originally it's It's a body um and then some of the internal organs are removed um some kept and saved some sort of just discarded like the brains just discarded. Um. 01:54.87 archaeoteacup Um. 01:58.80 Jess And then the whole body is packed in Natron which is type of salt. Yeah, so then all of the moisture is is sucked out of the body. Um, so then it's just sort of a dry body think leather. Um. 02:00.10 archaeoteacup She is so weird. Um, okay. 02:06.97 archaeoteacup Okay, a hat. 02:15.64 Jess And then everything sort of packed back in and made to look sort of human shaped and then wrapped in linens and different patterns which changed over the centuries. Um, and then it was a like eventually anointed with different like oils and resins and stuff. So I guess the answer is sort of. 02:35.13 Jess A slightly humiform bundle of linens with resinous oil drizzle on the top. 02:38.71 archaeoteacup The. 02:44.16 archaeoteacup Okay, okay, and would they have been so in my little you know Flash bag I had the linen as being just sort of white and and clean because I guess that's our impression of what it would have been like but is that similar to because I know so many people who you know you think of. 02:48.65 Jess And. 02:59.93 archaeoteacup Neolithic or the stone age and you just think everyone more brown all the time but actually there's so many studies now that show that they were wearing purple and reds and Pinks and everything so would the would the mummies have been just wrapped in in white or would there have been also different colors. 03:13.65 Jess Um, there were different colors usually sort of decoratively. Um, so I've seen um, red and pink but also sort of the off white natural linen color. Um. 03:15.57 archaeoteacup Okay. Oh cool. Okay, yeah. 03:27.45 Jess Yeah, the red ones are really interesting. There's only a few I think that have been found but they're sort of um, crisscrossed and striped with red I Think the British Museum has one but they're very interesting so there are other colors. Um, but as you said they don't necessarily like stay the color that they were. 03:38.25 archaeoteacup Ah, okay. 03:46.21 Jess And even the white is now sort of like yellow brown and crumbly so. 03:46.83 archaeoteacup Ah, nay. 03:49.35 archaeoteacup Yeah, okay, which I mean you mentioned it sort of crumbly I mean is it possible to to conserve that or do you just have to kind of put a protective layer on top. 04:00.91 Jess Um, um, yes, and no, um so it's more like it's just like very stiff at a certain point like or at least the ones like the pieces that have like the oils and the resins are very stiff and so. 04:16.40 archaeoteacup Um, okay. 04:18.47 Jess If they flake off, you can kind of tack them back down. Um, we use an adhesive called methcellulose typically which is the active ingredient in Hairspray um, but it so that it doesn't affect the yeah it doesn't affect the the mummy and it's it's basically like a like a. 04:23.35 archaeoteacup Okay, ah. 04:37.44 Jess Plant cellulose and so it's not really, we're not really adding anything like too new to the mummy by like using that adhesive. Um, but then we'll also sometimes wrap a new layer of linen around something that needs a little more support or something we try to match. 04:43.35 archaeoteacup Okay, this is. 04:55.52 Jess As close as we can obviously to the original linens in that like particular location. But yeah, there's a few ways to kind of keep it all together. 05:05.91 archaeoteacup Ah, oh hang on you hang on you cut out a little bit then um, so maybe you could just redo the the um. 05:10.10 Jess Oh okay, where did I do where did. 05:18.72 Jess Which part. 05:19.95 archaeoteacup Ok, um, yeah, yeah, yeah, you just you just came out again. You said ah you solidify it with a linen or some of that that part you then sort of cut out for a bit and then came back in again. 05:34.62 Jess Oh interesting. Um, okay, where was I Sometimes we'll use different types of Linen. We'll try to match it to that location as close as we can obviously um and so we'll. Rewra certain sections if they need extra support or um, yeah, if there's too much of the the original linen that's sort of Fragmented. We'll we'll rehold it together with like a silk craline or or the linen or or something like that. 06:07.82 archaeoteacup Okay, no interesting. Okay, so but yeah you you don't ever have the urge to secretly add in like a bright green linen or something. 06:20.12 Jess I Mean that would be fun. Um I have never done so look. It's magic um me in the Victorian Era look guys. It's green. 06:23.24 archaeoteacup Look what I found guys. It's the find of the century. 06:37.18 archaeoteacup Yeah, ah, okay so another question is seems quite simple but actually ah maybe it's not um, what mummies were found in the pyramids. 06:51.00 Jess Um, well so there are different pyramids obviously well maybe not obviously so there's the gisel ones those were most famous um and that's what we always think of but there's pyramids up and down the Nile Typically they're from around the Fourth Dynasty. Um. 07:04.35 archaeoteacup Um. 07:07.60 Jess Which is about two thousand six hundred Bce um or maybe yeah about that and but also mummification started about at the same time which means it was not particularly well. 07:10.50 archaeoteacup Um, okay. 07:27.48 Jess They hadn't really gotten into their stride in the mummification process. We don't have very many like early mummies from that period. Um, and so even mummies that have been found in pyramids are not necessarily the original inhabitants of pyramids. Um, some people think that they like got like re. 07:28.40 archaeoteacup Right. 07:41.83 archaeoteacup Oh. 07:45.95 Jess Interred there because they were like oh it's a pyramid. We should just put him in there. That'll be fun. We don't have to dig him a tomb. Yeah, so yeah, look we don't have to put the money in. So um, yeah, Mummification really? um. 07:50.27 archaeoteacup Ah, okay, hey someone built this already for us. Nice. 08:03.88 Jess Was like at its peak during about the like the eighteenth and Twentieth Dynasty and so the short answer is there have been ah mummies found in the pyramids who they originally were is unclear so they're not necessarily like a pharaoh they could have just been a priest or. 08:15.41 archaeoteacup Um, who lived. 08:21.39 archaeoteacup Move. 08:22.49 Jess Some wealthy widow or something um, and by the eighteenth and Twentieth dynasty they had decided that pyramids were a little ostentatious and so had moved to like rock cut tombs. What. 08:36.48 archaeoteacup Ah, weird where that they think that. 08:38.94 Jess Here is all the these gold pieces of this Royal Burial Please come and take them. Yeah. 08:47.10 archaeoteacup Okay I have you seen that meme which is like oh you know you may have ah competition in life but we are all buried the same way or something and then you have a picture of a pyramid being like speak for yourself peasant. And yeah. 09:03.80 archaeoteacup Ah, hi so there were were mumies found in pyramids but might not necessarily have been intended for the pyramids and might have been put in there later I Just take oh, that's so fascinating I didn't know that. Um, so okay, the next question is. 09:10.75 Jess Correct. Yes, yeah. 09:20.50 archaeoteacup Actually you would think quite simple but actually I don't know the answer to it So I'm wondering if you do why were mummies made. 09:27.23 Jess Um, I Actually so I I did a lot of research for this podcast because I didn't trust my memory. Um, and so my understanding was always that the the continuation of their body and their name. Um. 09:29.89 archaeoteacup I appreciate it. Thank you. 09:42.20 Jess Guaranteed their existence in the afterlife Evidently there has been some research that that was not the case and it was more that they were trying to attain like Godliness by mummifying because they would put um. 09:46.00 archaeoteacup Ah, oh okay. 09:52.54 archaeoteacup Oh her. 09:58.79 Jess Like cartonage which is sort of almost like a paper machet but with linen masks that were like gold and shiny and fun and um and so kind of what we think of as like a mummy face like not quite the toot and common level gold mask. But um, the layer beneath that. Um. 10:10.41 archaeoteacup Right. 10:16.72 Jess And so I think that was sort of the the idea was that like if there were gold here then they would be gold and deity esque in the afterlife exactly? Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're giving yourself botox before going to the afterlife. 10:27.59 archaeoteacup Ah, so it's almost like giving yourself a little makeover really nice with gold a golden paper machet. That's a interesting vo we both? Okay so it wouldn't have necessarily been everyone who got. 10:36.52 Jess Um, yes, exactly Um, um yeah I mean basically you just had to have money. Mummification was very expensive and so the more money we've had the the more likely you were to be mummified and. 10:45.70 archaeoteacup Mummified then? okay. 10:54.66 archaeoteacup Okay, right. 10:56.42 Jess The better quality. Your mummification was so like you could pay for like 30 layers of linens instead of like 10 you know that kind of differentiation. 11:07.38 archaeoteacup Oh ok, be well wrapped instead of just like as is fine. They wanted a I wanted a gold face. Let's just make a paper match I want them all stick some eyes on soft. Ah, okay, interesting. 11:14.32 Jess Um, yeah, awesome now some Goly eyes. Yeah. 11:24.90 archaeoteacup And so there's sort of a lot of if you have that idea of it being kind of immortalized but then we haven't always been able to um, sort of identify the mummies when when they've been found So I mean I Guess not all of them have that mask or not all of them have. Kind of things that would make them easily identifiable or are there usually some things that you could say Oh yeah, that must be so-and-s so. 11:49.44 Jess Um, I mean it depends on how like what the context was I mean here we are on an archeology but kind um podcast Ah woo, um some ah. 11:56.77 archaeoteacup Hey Context is everything guys. 12:07.46 Jess Um, trying to remember the specifics often. Their coffins would have their names on them and like you know, sometimes like a family lineage was included in their names on their their coffins and so if you can tell without too much doubt that the mummy came from that coffin Then that's pretty That's a pretty clear indication of who that was. 12:14.79 archaeoteacup Okay. 12:25.40 archaeoteacup Okay. 12:26.70 Jess Um, but there was a cash found in I want to say Daro Bakri but I could be very wrong, please don't be mean, um, but ah, there was a lot of royal mummies found in this cash. Yeah. 12:39.72 archaeoteacup Potentially and okay. 12:44.57 Jess According to Jess's poor memory but there was a lot of royal mummies that were found in that um cache and I think they had they know who most of them are and so they must have had some sort of identifying feature on them I have not studied that cash or the archeological records it was done in the victorian era. So. 12:53.32 archaeoteacup Oh Wow. Okay. 13:01.70 archaeoteacup The. 13:04.30 Jess You know, good luck but I like ah. 13:09.21 archaeoteacup Ah, no, but that's really interesting and I mean we talked about the fact that there are I'll get there is still one last question but I'm going to wait a little bit before we deal with that one because it's quite a big one. Um, so just related to this So Not everyone could necessarily be mummied in terms of humans and of course human mummies are the most famous. But. Am I right of thinking I mean there are other kinds of mummies found as Well, right? So does that mean that rich people were just paying for like their cats or whatever to get mummified. 13:36.86 Jess And I mean it's I I'm not sure if like rich people were paying for their pets to be mummified but a lot of like animals were um, associated with different gods and goddesses and so they would be um. 13:52.59 archaeoteacup Um, right. 13:52.89 Jess Mummified and more ofl like in association with those gods and so like cats are a big example. Um, they're associated with fastat and segment kind of the same deity that's evolved over a period of time but ah, but other ones are like crocodiles. 14:01.80 archaeoteacup Um. 14:11.79 Jess Ibis. Um I think there was a I think I've seen dog ones falcons. So anything that you can kind of like link to the image of 1 of the egyptian gods. There's probably a mummy of it. Um, and I think it was more like associated with like the types of temples and yeah. 14:21.13 archaeoteacup Um, ah to a God Interesting. Okay, interesting. No, that's really real cool and the. 14:31.12 Jess He. 14:38.73 archaeoteacup I mean also so far we have been focusing on mummies from Egypt. But I believe that there are mummies in kind of other parts of the world. How did the kind of mummification process differ and how did the kind of development of mummification. Kind of differ in different parts of the world and. 14:58.17 Jess Um, that's that's a good question so there are several regions that have sort of the deliberate mummies which we think of as egyptian mummies. Um, so doing something artificial to ensure that the body is in fact, mummified. But there's also. Sort of accidental mummification which does happen in Egypt because it's very dry. Um, but um, there's like peruvian mummies. Um those um often I think they're cave burials again I don't I don't do I don't this is not my field. 15:34.96 archaeoteacup Right? Yes, like the yeah yeah I think I know the ones you mean? Yeah, yeah. 15:36.36 Jess Um, um, yes and somebody will know ah someone in the comments will know and then there's um, ah Korean mummies have been found um because they. Wrap their bodies in so many layers of silk. Um, they just sort of accidentally mummified I haven't done a lot of research about them. But they sound fascinating. Um, but yeah, so there's there's kind of mummies all over um and like a different time Periods. So. 15:55.74 archaeoteacup Um, ah. 16:03.48 archaeoteacup Interesting. 16:14.81 archaeoteacup Well and so what what was the the oldest mummy found then does that come from Egypt. 16:22.91 Jess Um, I think the oldest deliberately mummified individual was from the chin choro culture which is now chile it was from about fifty fifty Bce and the oldest naturally. 16:36.17 archaeoteacup Ah, then. 16:40.51 Jess Or like accidentally mummified individual was from the ata comma desert from about seven twenty bc or seventy twenty sorry 7020 bc it's lot of. 16:41.70 archaeoteacup Okay. 16:50.22 archaeoteacup Okay, okay oh wow but even like so around five five Thousand Fifty bc so I mean that was yeah good like 2 to 3000 years before the egyptian mummy started to appear. 17:05.55 Jess Yeah, well and I mean we're kind of ignoring like the fossilization side of things too. Um, because obviously there's been fossilized remains of many oh no am I still here. 17:11.42 archaeoteacup Yeah, hello chess. 17:20.26 Jess Can you hear me. 17:23.61 archaeoteacup Um, are you there jazz I cannot hear you oh hang on there. You are oh I Just had you again. 17:29.50 Jess Can you hear me? Okay I'm here I was typing out that I'm here. Can you hear me hello here. 17:35.72 archaeoteacup I live I think somehow the the delay has gotten really big. 17:40.80 Jess Um, why my yellow I just.