Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Call for questions: MUMMIES (Patreon)

Published:
2024-08-31 00:25:21
Imported:
2026-06

Content

Spooktober is near, so I'm getting ready for an early morning interview with experts on mummies! Joining the show is an Egyptologist living in Cairo whose research interests include death and burial in ancient Egypt, mummification, funerary archaeology and tomb raiding. We'll also be reconnecting with Dr. Kara Cooney from our Egyptology (ANCIENT EGYPT) episode. Send me all your questions on mummies!

Deadline: Tuesday, September 3 at noon PST

Comments

Chris Bulock

Did they really pull the brain through the nose?

Mika

Did the Victorian Era English actually eat mummies? Or was that a myth?

Abraham Livingston

Is there any science between the legends of a mummy’s curse?

Corinna Regan

Where did the toilet paper thing come from?

Zed Shirogane

Did some people legit drink the liquids from inside mummies?! Whyyyyy????

Charlotte Parkinson

So excited Kara is back! Weirdest thing to be found with a mummy?

Mykenzie King

Was being mummified something that happened to everyone or was it just for royalty?

RJ Doidge

Why were they such a delicacy back in the day?? Is that true? I heard that’s why we don’t have as many left.

Aki

What is the most unusual mummy ever found?

Donald Hodges

Is there a direct relationship between mummies and the Egyptian Book of the Dead?

Aimee Ford

Talk to me about Mummy Brown paint!! When did artists start using it and who thought it would be a good idea?? When was it no longer in production? What are some famous paintings with a dead person in the paint?!?

Cicely Taylor

What is the (I’m presuming terrible) history of the paint colour Mummy Brown?

Kelsey lore

Egypt is the most famous culture for mummies, was it common practice in any other cultures?

Lisa St

Really? That's a thing???!!! OMG I want to know about this if it is...

Kay Lucas

My partner wants to know was the same method used to mummify the cats as human mummification? And what kind of cats were they? Also what was the significance of putting them in the burial chambers? She likes cats.

Evelyn Roberts

Due to the Victorians being bezerkers and believing that consuming mummies had health benefits, how many mummies do you think we lost? Were they more prominent or still a rare thing?

Ali Vessels

Is it possible for me to donate my body after death so an egyptologist can use it to study mummification hands on? How do I make that happen?

Lisa St

Does anybody mummify their dead anymore? Does desiccation count as mummification? Are there other ways to be mummified than the ways they did it in Egypt back in the day? (ETA-lisa saint)

Miranda Ramirez

I read as a child that the brain was thrown away because the Egyptians didn't know what it's purpose was. Is that so, and what organs were preserved or discarded?

Scott Sheldon

I’ve heard on multiple eps of TPWKY from the Erins from Epidemiology of evidence of diseases found on mummies. How can you link lesions on skin or bones to diseases today?

Brianna L

How many mummies have been found that are catalogued and still extant? How many do you think are still able to be found by archaeologists?

Chris Curious

Were there trends in Egyptian mummification through history?

ezra

has experimentation been done to determine what conditions a sarcophagus will or won’t survive?

Rachael Swenson

Were they're other cultures outside of Egypt that also practiced mummification

ReigningEmily

There is a mummy in my local museum. (It set off a lengthy ancient Egyptian phase of my childhood) As an adult though I wonder about the ethics of it. It was a human and now he is stripped naked and left on the east side of a foreign river. (East is for the living and west for the dead right?)

Clay Troyer

FTQA: In ancient cultures that practiced mummification, is it presumed that they were aware of how effective their preservation techniques were or would they be surprised to know their work has lasted this long?

Deli Dames

1) can they please talk about the king tut drama regarding his wife's sister's babies being his??? 2) which organs did the egyptians have an accurate understanding about? dad ward, please pull audio of bill clinton saying, "That's a good looking mummy."

Hailee Kirby

What made people go so crazy over Mummies? From eating them to making movies about them what makes them different from other preserved humans?

Harper

When I hear “mummy” I think of Egyptian mummies or bog mummies, but are there more cultures that practiced some form of ritual mummification? Do we know of “accidental” mummies (not part of a cultural practice, but a reaction to environment)? What areas/climates lend themselves to mummification, like bogs or deserts?

Scott Sheldon

How did ancient people across the world figure out what would work to preserve bodies? I feel like there are plenty of different methods from the ancient Egyptians, to the Icans, to so many more

Miranda Panda

I remember learning about people eating mummies. What's up with that??

Waylo

Do we know with certainty what formula (s) were used for embalming fluids?

Scott Sheldon

Do mummies have a smell even today?

Bee

WHY did people eat them?!?!

Emily Bernard

FTQA- are there still undiscovered tombs/mummies that we know exist from history books but we just have not found them yet? Also side question what’s up with cleopatras tomb? Is it really unfindable?

Ali Vessels

I'm so excited for this one!!! I have an unusual fascination with mummies - I got to take a dream trip to Egypt two years ago and spent an insane amount of time pouring over the royal mummies in the new Egyptian museum. The level of preservation is mind boggling. Something I've always wondered, though, is that the ancient Egyptians went to such great lengths for their burial rituals and tombs - is it not incredibly disrespectful to take them from their final resting places to study? I'm so grateful I was able to experience it up close but couldn't help but wonder about the ethics of it.

Scott Sheldon

Would “bog people” found in Nordic countries that have been preserved in death be considered mummies? Typically I think of the wrapped up or dried up remains

Kay Lucas

I was wondering the same, but also did the Egyptians take the practice from other cultures?

Derek Peloquin

Were mummies only made of rich or royal people, or were more common people mummified as well?

Avren Keating

What (or who?) are some historically significant Egyptian mummies stored in non-Egyptian museums? Are there any plans to repatriate them?

Corrie Navis

Do we have any idea how many ancient Egyptian mummies there once were? (You know, before all the assorted tomb raiding, people eating them, etc.)

Nicky G

Why did people EAT mummies?! Why did people use mummies as paint?! What are the conditions that create "natural mummies" ala soap mummies, peat bog, Andes mountain mummies of sacrificial children?

Lisa Gorman

Why and how did mummification start as a practice?

Lisa St

Dad Ward, do you know the Zoom books by Tim Wynne-Jones? In Zoom Upstream, he (the cat, Zoom) goes to Egypt...he's looking for his Uncle Roy. Nice commentary here, http://victoriabeatty.org/blog/?p=748

P.J. Shapiro

How much of the preservation of mummies that have been found and studied is due to the methods originally used to prepare them vs. the environment in which they aged?

Kay Lucas

In Stargate the Egyptian gods were parasites that took over the people as hosts. Would a parasite be mummified with the host of they were infected at the time?

Sarah Cooke

FTQA: is mummification still practiced in any cultures? Also, was it just me, or did every neurodivergent millennial have an obsession with mummies and ancient Egypt when they were a kid?

Harper

Ooh, good question! There have been burial sites (not mummies) all over the world with stone dildos. Maybe they had something like that?

Lee Wang

There was a fad of ingesting mummies in Edwardian England, right? Did chomping on mummy jerky carry any health risks?

Harper

Thank you for bringing this up!

Audrey

Did people really eat mummies??

Melissa Wise

Is there any documentation as to why they thought the brain was useless and discarded?

Bassist Ex Machina

FTQA - is mummification eco-friendly? With the growing interest in green burials could this be another viable option?

Jennifer Froh

Were people ever mummified alive? Like in the movie?

Mandy Hobson

Did people actually consume mummies thinking it was medical “cure all”?

Madelyn Dunkle

Dad! I have nothing but questions. Ahhhh my spooky little heart is dying. Those that were lower class were they mummified? It seems like you only hear about pharaohs and the wealthy. What were the burial rituals for the lower class? Were they able to remove all the organs to put in the jars? How did you become a person to do mummification? Was it a family lineage thing? DAD I NEED THIS EPISODE NOW!

Sydney Koenig

Why did people burn mummies to use for fuel?? And what’s with tourists buying mummified body parts as souvenirs back in the day??

Erin White

Does anyone still make them, apart from in rare cases like Eva Peron?

Jada Lynn

Do mummies ever have bacteria/diseases that we have eradicated or aren't around anymore. If so, what precautions do people working with mummies need to take?

Jada Lynn

Any hot takes on the movie The Mummy?

Channon Koty

What kind of bacteria has been found in mummies?

Channon Koty

What type of cloth was used?

Amanda Nugent

What is with people buying mummies in the Victorian era? Where would they display them? And is it true if you couldn't have a whole mummy you would buy hands and feet? What would happen to the rest of the mummy?

Yuri

Need advice! How can we be into mummies without it being all kinds of disrespectful to other cultures burial practices, and not just ignore the super problematic colonialism, racism, and essentially grave robbing by mostly westerners. Help! Also, mummification arose in many cultures around the globe. Did they find out from each other or did it arise separately? (Yuri - like beauty without the b) Oh and ps - do we need to seriously be asking museums to give them back?

Yuri

Yes the cats! Talk about the cats

Audrey Hudak

Is mummification only an ancient practice? Is anyone being mummified today?

SuchaHotMetz

Are there any pregnant mummies? Coolest animal mummy you know of? If I used a sledgehammer to hit one would it turn to dust?

Hannah Gorrie

I heard that ancient Egyptian temples would farm cats for purchase to be mummified as offerings for the diety- is that true?

Audrey Hudak

What dishonors would prevent someone from being mummified?

Hannah Gorrie

Is it controversial in the museum/historian fields to have mummified people on public display?

Hannah Gorrie

Are mummies still popping up in people's private collections from this time period?

Jasmine Tsai

First time question asker here :) I love this topic!! My question is: how extensive was their knowledge on anatomy? And what significance if any, did the removal of the organs demonstrate?

Jasmine Tsai

Brendan Fraser yay or nay? Obvs yay right

Hannah Gorrie

How did mummification practices change through different eras of ancient Egypt?

Hannah Gorrie

I was def this kid and my best friend was too!

Lizzy Martinez

Another Reddit rabbit hole led me to discovering we used mummies for medicine and paint in the Victorian age. How truly impactful to history we can study today was that?

Malorie Albee

Okay I KNOW this is probably an unpopular opinion in Spooktober but "mummies" are real, deceased people... not something spooky to gawk at. Please read/refer to the book "Mummified" by Angela Stienne. Always mummified people, not mummies. The fact that they are in so many museums across the world is the result of a history of colonization, exploitation, and scientific racism...we objectify them and think they're cool, but really they should not be on display anywhere. They are dead people who did not consent to being removed from their burial place, much less unwrapped as many have been. I just want to make sure this episode is approached with the same care that any and all deceased deserve and are afforded, regardless of their age and "cool factor." I trust that you will, Alie, but wanted to put this info out there in case you were unaware of this perspective.

Hannah Gorrie

I have a piggyback question - does modern Egypt have a cultural connection to ancient mummified people, and are there strong opinions about how those remains should be treated/what should be done with them?

Hannah Gorrie

Who were robbing tombs and desecrating mummies in ancient Egypt? Foreign invaders? Common robbers? State actors/the following monarchy?

Hannah Gorrie

Thank you for asking I think about this all the time!

Elta Sparks

Why do we assume that mummies groan like zombies? Is it Scooby Doo? I hope it's Scooby Doo

Dave Brewer

Can you talk about bodies who have been mummified by being in dry air, and how they differ from the better-known kind?

Dave Brewer

I went to Egypt when I was younger. My traveling companion and I both bought wallets. When we got home we lied to our friends and told them they were made of mummy skin. Would it be possible to make anything like that from mummies? Not that I plan to, it’s just a thought I occasionally have.

Nehemiah myles

What was logic behind the consumption of mummies and who’s idea was it to validate cannibalism?

Michelle Vu

What do they smell like?

Margaret Aisenbrey

Did other cultures besides Egypt mummify their dead?

Paula Lowden

Is it legal to be mummified in Oregon and do scientist know how to mummify?

Vanessa Adams

Why is the Brendan Fraser movie “The Mummy” the best mummy movie of all time?

Scott Sheldon

I’m a gay man, but I also fully understand that the classic movie, “The Mummy” staring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz is a bisexual dream. Did ancient Egyptians dabble in sexual freedom?

Alessandra Kempson

When I visited the Vatican on my honeymoon, there was a display with a bunch of Egyptian artifacts, including a mummy. It gave me a bit of an ick. The concept of taking a dead person from their resting place and displaying them for the public. Are there any movements to bring mummies back home? How would ancient Egyptians feel about their dead being on display in such a way?

Bethany J

My partner wants to ask, “why did the Victorians do that?” (Referring to eating the mummies 😭)

Ashley Sayre de Rivas

What's the closest color to mummy brown paint? People liked to throw a little ground mummy in just about anything lol

Bethany J

I saw a picture the other day of Tutankhamun’s grandmummy’s mummy- she had lovely golden hair! Does hair usually preserve well in mummies? Did they give them wigs?

Tania Magic Fingers

What variety of fabrics have been used across different cultures to wrap the deceased body in and did the different fabrics have varying effects on the preservation process?

Dane Camacho

Is there any evidence of mummification outside of Egypt?

Kylie Shay

What are your thoughts on the ethics of people trying to uncover lost ancient tombs and identify mummy remains for research? How would ancient Egyptians feel about these efforts? On one hand, I feel like these types of discoveries keep the names and stories of great leaders alive and allow more people to learn about them. On the other, I worry we are disrupting their final resting places and/or disrespecting their traditions. Thank you!

Emily Totero

Is it known how Egyptians discovered the process of mummification? And how did the practice grow to be so complex? Also, why the heck did people eat mummies?????

Iso Partee

What are the ethics of having mummies in museums ?

Iso Partee

Did people eat mummies for medicinal purposes ?

Erin Gunderson

Herbs and resins! What did they use? Were they for preservation, perfume, or religious significance?

Iso Partee

Are mummies going to be repatriated to Egypt ?

Nina Eve Z.

Did people really used to make paper out of mummy wrappings?

Seán Thomas Kane

Are there any Ancient Egyptian religious texts which explain the origins of mummification?

Andrea Devlin

Do many Egyptologists believe in the mummy's curse?

Chrysalis Ashton

There are so many options for your body once you are done with it now, is being mummified one of them? Second question: if you were a mummified, how would you feel about future archeologists finding you, removing you from your resting place, and putting you on display? Finally, please listen to the song and watch the video for Josh Ritter’s song “The Curse”. It’s an excellent mummy song!

winn

does mummification preserve dna?

winn

what do mummies smell like

Braden Brown

Are there any pathogens that people who work with mummies have to contend with?

winn

can plants be mummified?

Stephanie

Do mummies tell us anything about healthcare in Ancient Egypt?Mummification involves a degree of autopsy—I wonder if that informed medical knowledge at all? Or are there things we’ve seen in mummies (healed bone breaks for example) that might tell us about the kinds of ailments and treatments people might have faced?

Alli B

Me too!

Alli B

Tell us about the embalmers, or would the term be mummifiers? Was the profession lowly or revered?

Alli B

I’m curious if the brain was actually tossed after death, or if that’s an assumption because we’ve never found one? Did Egyptians know anything about the brain’s function, or was it just skull jelly to them?

Alli B

Same question about the process. Did it evolve out of knowledge of food preservation? And who were the first to test the process out?

Alli B

Do we know much of death rites for Egyptians who didn’t get the royal treatment?

Jennifer Lemon

How much did embalming techniques change over time?

Jennifer Lemon

What’s the oldest embalmed mummy that’s been found?

Shannon Debo

We're the ancient Egyptians the only culture who mummified?? Did they mummify everyone or just important people 🤔

Alli B

I was today years old when I learned about this, and now I need to know how many mummies were eaten??

Alli B

You never really hear about local Egyptians while westerners and colonizers were raiding tombs. Were they forced to help? Did they resist?

Rachel Silber

I was recently at the MET and felt very uneasy in their Egyptian exhibit. How did the museums get access to all these pieces, and surely they should be returned back to Egypt?

Rose

Do we know how many Egyptian tombs have been left completely untouched? Are there any that haven’t been raided or turned into an archeological site? Also, why tf did colonizers eat mummies? What could possibly lead to people thinking that was a “good” idea? Marketing? Some kind of inner circle rich people kudo points?

Diana Staresinic-Deane

Asking on behalf of my husband... why are mummies in the movies able to walk around when their legs are usually wrapped together? Also, what did the Ancient Egyptians do with a mummy's lungs?

Björn Fredberg

Eating mummies was apparently in such demand that smugglers started creating fake mummies to sell. How? What does mummy taste like? How do you make sure you get the right human jerky taste?

Björn Fredberg

Have we learned anything specific about Egyptian life at the time of the pharaohs from DNA testing? Was everything better back then?

Björn Fredberg

It seems that they are finding mummies each and every day, usually from digging in people's basement. How much of an annoyance in Egypt is it to find dead people? How do you know which basement to excavate?

Dave Miller, PhD

why don’t we mummify people anymore? Or…when did it fall out of fashion? ✌🏻♥️🍸

Björn Fredberg

If making a reboot of The Mummy with Brendan Fraser and mashing it up the The Whale with Brendan Fraser, would that even out to a pretty normal sized Brendan Fraser? I know Brendan Fraser didn't play the mummy in the film! Just go with it!

Björn Fredberg

Are there any fat mummies? What I mean is, can you tell from the mummy how the person looked, weighted etc back in their non-jerky days?

Catherine Sweitzer

FTQA Why did I think mummies, curses, and quicksand would be a larger part of my adult life

Euan Munro

Why are they called mummies?

Kelly Shaver

How has technology changed how we approach the study of mummies and are there ethical implications?

Marina D

How long have people been mummifying their dead? Is this a global thing or just in some specific regions? What is the difference between Egyptian mummies and south-american?

Lise Bakker (pronounced Lease Bokker)

What, precisely, in the nineteen separate hells, possessed the Victorian to decide that mummies were the special secret sauce of eternal life??!

Björn Fredberg

My daughter Alva (9 years old, FTQA) wants to know; what does mummies eat?

Olga Kolesnikova

The first thing I thought of was that bit in Futurama when Fry eats a tiny alien mummy, so my question is what would happen if you ate a mummy?

Reuben Eadon

FTQA: How old is the very weird practice of stealing mummies from their graves and using them for "medicine"?

ChickenChomper

Can mummies tell us anything about the evolution of our microbiomes? Eg are our gut microbes the same-ish as what they were like back in the ancient Egyptian days?

ChickenChomper

Also I used to work in a museum that had a mummy and there was always talk about whether that mummy should return to its home in Egypt. What are your thoughts about repatriating mummies?

Sonjabird

How were mummification techniques developed? Do we find crappy, more decomposed mummies that were mummified in different ways or with different preservative agents? There must have been a lot of trial and error to find things that worked. Plus, if mummies were buried how did they know that they were lasting for long? I envision an Egyptian “body farm” or something.

Sydonie S.

Were the same techniques and practices used for mummifying both humans and animals?

Pavka34

Why is it legal for in some states for sketchy curiosity shops to be able to display “mummies” (sometimes not mummies, just human remains)?

Pavka34

Is there a defined difference between a mummy and a naturally mummified corpse? Do different scientists study each?

Pavka34

Other than the Egyptians what cultures had a process for mummification?

Ellie Golding

Does it... still happen? Anywhere? Is embalming the modern day equivalent of mummification? Is mummification legal?

Ellie Golding

Intrusive thought for the night: what does a Mummy smell like? Surely just like earth and old-ness? Or do they have a.. deathly stank to them?

Scalebar

Were honey mummies a real thing? Where a monk ate nothing but honey until they died, then were preserved in it?

Helios

the myth of the mellified man! I would also love to know about this.

Helios

Did they really kill a bunch of people like servants to be buried with a pharaoh? If so, were *all* of those people mummified? that seems like a lot of work. if they only mummified the pharaoh, what did they do with the rest of the bodies?

Stacy Grissom

My 9 year old Ologies fan Oliver wants to know why mummies don’t rot.

Helios

what are your thoughts on repatriation of museum pieces/artifacts acquired through tomb raiding?

Helios

dude I totally forgot about the mummy paint I also want to hear about that

Scalebar

Considering there was a fad for using mummy flesh medicinally, I can't help wondering what it tastes like

Helios

did Tutankhamun really have a preference for ducks? I've heard several of his personal items were decorated with ducks, leading people to conclude they were an animal he was fond of.

Helios

what do you think about the way people sometimes depict ancient Egyptians as light-skinned/with more European features, especially in popular media, despite Egypt being in Africa? do we have any reliable conclusions about how they actually looked?

Sydney I

MUMMIES ARE MY JAM!!! Who were the people who were trained to do the mummification? Was this considered a “good job”? Did it run in the family?

Sydney I

This may be out of Egyptian expertise but BOG MUMMIES!!! Was this done on purpose, like for a ceremony? Or just happened to preserve bodies ?

Sydney I

How did they know mummies would be preserved for so long? Did they know?

Cian verbridge

Can you talk about how the practices changed over time especially when Romans took over

Erin Bagley

Is it ethical to display mummified human remains, especially those that were acquired through questionable practices? There is a local library in my area with a mummy on display, and while they have taken steps to keep it safe and ensure its preservation, it feels wrong to me that it is there because some wealthy person purchased it as a curiosity. I know I wouldn't want my loved ones to be treated in such a way after their passing.

Meagan Walker

At what point does someone go from being a body to a mummy that can be excavated? Or the other way around, at what point do you decide to leave them be?

Ja Jo: Art & Craft

When something is mummified, is it forever? Is there any upkeep or do they slowly breakdown?

Meagan Walker

Yes I also want to know about this!

Meagan Walker

Reltedly - is embalming a form of mummification?

Ja Jo: Art & Craft

Does the term mummy only apply to animals? Are pickles, plant mummies?

Meagan Walker

Favourite representation in film? (I looooove 1999’s “The Mummy” with Brendan Fraser.)

Meagan Walker

How often are they just piles of dust by the time you find them?

Bahdi_Phat

Viruses? Bacteria? Is that the "real mummy's curse"?

Madeline DLC

Ahh mummies are what got me interested in history when I was a kid!! Which mummy is your favorite both human and animal?

Mr. Weevil

is it true the europeans used to eat mummies as medicine???

Rachel Yukimura

I know this is the wrong place for this, but where/how do I make recommendations for future episode topics? I just can't figure it out! Thank you!

Waylo

Did the Egyptians only mummify kings or queens? Or other highly held dignitaries? Have any cultures been more inclusive and mummified all their dead?

Rachel M

When did Egyptians stop mummifying the dead? Why did they stop?

Mika

My 7 year old, Avi, is wondering what the boxes are made of that mummies are put into. Secondary question is where did myths come from about mummies coming back to life?

Tia V

How old is the first mummy ever discovered? Do we know why this type of burial practice started, like have we found a proto-mummy that hints this was going to become a burial trend?

Elie Zwiebel

I probably already know the answer because colonialism, but where and when did the idea of mummies being scary or carrying curses originate?

anniemercury

"Ancient Egypt" actually spanned about 3 thousand years; that's such a huge swath of time! Think how many Western burial practices have diversified and fallen out of fashion in that time. Can we have a loose timeline for when mummification was starting to develop, different iterations of how the process changed along the way, and when it looked like what we learned in primary school with the hook through the nose, canopic jars for organs, natron for desiccation? Had the process changed much in the by the time mummies had painted portraits of the deceased? I'd also love to hear about how cultural exchange impacted mummies, and whether or not the practice was ever exported to other areas with similar (or dissimilar!) climates. What led to these exchanges or kept them from happening?

anniemercury

When did mummies become "spooky" in western culture? Were they always? Do we think it was because they came from a non-Christian culture?

anniemercury

How were mummies were talked about in their contemporary culture? It seems like a universal thing that children like to be spooked just a little. Would we know if Ancient Egyptian children had spooky ghost stories of the living dead that would have actually been mummies?

floraandthefaun

yeah it is. it's really fucked up. the demand was even so high at some point that fake "mummy powder" was sold to meet it.

Patrick Myers

I've heard actual horror stories of mummies being used as fuel in steam locomotives back in the day...please debunk as flimflam so I can sleep better or confirm that human beings deserve to be haunted.

anniemercury

Please talk about modern Egypt's perspective on the history of mummies in ancient Egypt, as well as on the imperialism/colonialism/mass export (theft) of indigenous remains.

Blair C

When I was a child my biggest thrill was to visit the mummie at the Virginia museum in Richmond , Va. when I took my children to see it (so excited!) it was gone! The guard said it frightened people. When did a country enthralled with zombie movies become too scared to see a mummie? Or was it out of respect for the mummie and the guard was mistaken?

Sadie Vipond

Are there maybe a bunch of undiscovered mummies that people are walking on top of?

Flozzatron

How did the cultural tradition of mummification begin? Is it true that one of the mummies dicks got lost by scientists?

Parks

In addition to paint pigment, are there any other weird uses for Mummies?

it’s just sarah

Is it true that victorians ate mummies? Did anyone else do this?

Dionne Needham

What other things were mummified? I know their were cats and probably dogs. Anything else and why? eg the person's pet or for protection?

Dionne Needham

Are their other cultures that treat their dead in a similar way?

Mouse Paxton

What was up with people in like Victorian England eating mummies? WHY???? Is it ethical to display Ancient Egyptian mummies in museums around the world? Do they belong in a museum in their country of origin or should they just be interred again instead? Are bog buddies mummified or is that a different process?

Olivia Lester

Can any living organism be mummified? What is the mummified version of an entirely gelatinous body (i.e. jellyfish)? Can I "mummify" an abiotic aspect?

RobinR

When was the most recent mummy buried? Did the practice evolve into something else in the region that persists today?

Chelsea and her dog Charlie

FTQA: Can you speak to the ethics of mummies being displayed in museums all over the world?

Eil Be Gone

How do the llullaico mummies differ from Egyptian mummies?

Emma Doyle

Is there an etiquette to hold old a burial site has to be for excavation to be archeology and not desecration?

Anna

why are finding mummies a goal of archeology? and how do we justify removing a human from their sacred burial site?

Ploy Keener

If it is considered by a museum to be unethical to display a mummy, but Egypt doesn’t want it back, what should happen to it? Does it make sense to just be left in a storeroom instead?

Scott Sheldon

Thoughts on respect for the dead for being removed from their resting place to moved to a museum?

Patience P.

HOW do they mummify bodies? What materials did they use to preserve bodies?

Creme de la cremily

FTQA: 1. Animals as mummies- what is thought to be their role? What are some of the more rare animal mummies that have been found? 2. How detrimental was the 19th century’s Egypt/mummy craze to the fields of Egyptology and anthropology? 3 Mummies/papyri involved in early Mormonism: where were the mummies found originally? Are their identities known? Are they in a museum currently?

Leanna Shuster

I'd love to hear more about non-human mummified remains. What are the smallest and largest animals known to be mummified? How widespread around different world cultures were these practices? Was the process to create an animal mummy in a given time and place different from how a human would be mummified?

Ashley Marrs

In the mummification process, how was the brain removed? Is it through the nose? or is that flim flam?

Organic Free-Range Lily

1. What do mummy experts think about the 1999 film "The Mummy"? Do you play it at every convention while roasting it and throwing popcorn at the screen? Or was it a useful tool to get more people excited (misguided but excited) about Egypt in general and mummies in particular? :) 2. If I want to get buried like an ancient Egyptian, can my local mortician actually perform that process? Or would I have to pre-arrange it with a mummification expert (and pay for their travel, etc)? Is that a viable option (no pun intended!), and if so, how much would it cost? 3. How much trial and error did ancient Egyptians go through before they refined the mummification process? Do we know how that started in the first place?

Earl of Greymalkin

1) What was the research and development process like for mummification? How do techniques change over time? Was someone accidentally mummified in the beginning and then people started to try to copy the effect? 2) Were cats or other companion animals also mummified? 3) How long could a properly stored mummy survive? How are they preserved when removed from their locations? How are they transported safely? How strong is the material? 4) Any good stories of people thinking they've been cursed after removing materials from tombs? 5) How is 'ownership' of mummies and artifacts dealt with these days? Are repatriation efforts actually doing anything? 6) Are there particular pests that have to be kept away from mummies to keep them intact? Do you need moth balls? 7) What kinds of clothing/jewelry were used to dress mummies? Were they specific funerary styles? 8) How many mummified famous people are there still to be found out there? Who's looking? 9) What kind of information can you get about medical status from mummies and what kinds of information are lost in the process or because of the passage of time? How is this information collected? What about cultural information? 10) Should we bring back mummification as a funerary practice for any reason? 11) How many other cultures used mummification?

Karter

OK OK OK! I read a book that had a chapter about medical cannibalism, gross, but what is the deal with mummifying folks in honey for decades, and then using it a medicine??

Matt Hirschl

Please talk about the AI work being done to recreate what mummies voices would have sounded like based upon their bike structure. Is this real???

Danielle Sucher

Is anyone still making mummies nowadays? Who and why?

GhoulNextDoor

I have heard there’s shameful history of tomb robbing and mummies being collected along with general brutalization by European invaders. Do museum exhibits today particularly in Europe and the United States respect the mummified individuals and Egyptian culture? If not what can be improved on?

Brenna Hull

What’s up with people eating mummies? Is that real?

BeckytheSassySeagrassScientist

Are the spirits of mummified kitties floating and purring around us like Right Now??? Which adorable sphinx babies were selected for mummification and why? Where said feline friends honored after their deaths or... chosen prematurely? Did every day people get in on the pet preservation game or only royalty?

Jennifer Froh

When the last/latest person mummified?

Anjali Himali

What defines a mummy? Do bog bodies like the ones in Florida count as mummified because they were ritualistically wrapped after death, or is it a more specific process?

Camila Gamino

Why did eating mummies become a thing?

Shoshana Friedman

I'm in the middle of reading Jodi Picoult's novel The Book of Two Ways, about how the text and images written inside the mummies' coffins are maps to the afterlife. Can you talk about the meaning of those texts and maps? and if you've read the book, how accurate was the research described in it? (first time question-asker:)

joesyourmom

Do any modern Egyptians practice any cultural burial traditions that are similar or perhaps rooted in ancient practices/ meanings?

Charity Wood

Was it Ronnie that talked about a shop having a mummy on display? Like a real one? How even?

Rachel Guthrie

In places where remains were mummified in the past, like Egypt, what are their burial practices today? How have they changed?

Sarah Morcom

Is it ethical to remove these from their place of burial and/or display them in museums? Should mummies be repatriated like other human remains which have been taken from their resting place?

Anouchka Louisa

What caused the mummification trend to begin to begin with? Was it the sarcophagus as a container that predicated the need for a wrapped corpse?

Zuleika Pevec

Can you talk a little about canopic jars and what each organ that was saved meant to the ancient Egyptians?

Zuleika Pevec

Is it true that King Tut’s penis was stolen/went missing? I saw his mummy in the Valley of the Kings, but he is modestly draped with a sheet.

Mina Emily Cox

How did they actually manage to pull the whole brain through the nose?! Is it that squishy that the nose didn't get compromised while doing so?

Ceren Özgür

Hi Alie, are there other regions with the same kind of mummy tradition? if not, how come Egyptians start mummifying people?

Ron

Are there more Egyptian mummies left to be discovered, such as well known pharaohs or priests whose burial sites are unknown?

Marlis Cheeseophile

What do we know about the mummifiers? Were these venerated folks? Was it considered a sacred job? How long did they train? Did the profession run in the family? Also, what kinds of plants or minerals did they employ in their practice? Thank you!

Marlis Cheeseophile

FYI: When I was in the fifth grade, in the earliest 1980s, I was homeschooled and my little brother and I studied "Egyptology" for a whole year. (No, homeschooling was not a thing yet-- our parents were boomer hippies) We created a miniature pyramid to scale, incised it with hieroglyphics, made clay canopic jars, eviscerated and embalmed a shrew that our cat caught and killed, and, yes, we put the tiny organs in those canopic jars, and the shrew was entombed in a clay sarcophagus. When we were in our thirties, we found the pyramid in our parents' attic, opened the tomb and exhumed the shrew- he was still mummified and holding his own. Not sure if he made it across the river Styx, but his body is still somewhere in our parents' basement in rural New Hampshire. This is what happens when you are raised by hippies in the 70s and come of age in the 80s.

Marlis Cheeseophile

What about the mummies of South America (thinking Peru)-- are their bodies "cured" by the environment, rather than purposely embalmed? Do they have their organs etc intact?

Claire Maurer

Why the fuck did white people eat them? Why are we like this 🤦🏼‍♀️

Magsaroni

Someone told me that in historical eras mummy dust was used in drinks for vitality, and in paint for houses? Truth or flim flam?

Magsaroni

Have you ever heard the song 'Mummy Dust' by Ghost? Thoughts? It's great in their live show, it involves confetti (not environmentally friendly, though)

rowantree

FTQA - can you explain the rise and fall in popularity of mummification over time? So curious!

CurtisDawg

What up with the curses? Have you or any of your colleagues experienced anything? Any tips for breaking mummy curses?

CurtisDawg

Asking for a friend?

CurtisDawg

Yes!!! My fridge is full of plant mummies!!!

sigpig

mummies were ground up to make a brownish pigment, a practice which went on for quite some time… which paintings still on show today (in museums) were painted using mummy brown?

Aven

Do people still get mummified today?

Kpelliss

A subject near and dear to my heart....my husband and I met in Egypt 41 years ago when I was a student at the American University in Cairo. My question has to do with the current state of mummies the mummies in Egypt. For years they were kept in a relatively open to air (pollution) glass cases or no cases at all. Did exposure to elements cause any degradation, given the pollution levels in Cairo? Are they in the same condition as when I met them 40 years ago?

GannonTheIrishCannon

Where is mummification still relevant today? And can I have that done in present day (might as well go out with a bang, or entombed)

Ellen Durnal

Do they have an opinion on Lara Croft?

Ellen Durnal

I know I'm late but just in case lol

Mark Reynolds

I guess I'm too late for the deadline. But I'm curious to know about the process of decay? Like what stages does a mummified body go through? I think there are mummies from cultures other than Egyptian, did they have different reasons for mummifying their dead? And then I'm also curious about the accuracy of the movie "The Mummy". What did it get right? What did it get wrong? Specifically the movie put a lot of emphasis on the jars? Is that a real thing? What do the jars mean?

Keerat Singh

Is it true that a bunch of mummies were lost to research forever because they were turned into paint?

Abby Sellers

Hi!! How are the processes different between freeze dried mummies like Otzi versus hot air (??) dried mummies in Egypt?

Abby Sellers

Also I know Otzi wasn’t intentionally mummified. Just using him as an example

Mini Minnie

Is mummification still in practice and/or legal anywhere?

Coreen “the climate communicator” Weilminster

How are these historic rituals like our modern day death doulas? And also how/why are mummified artifacts considered imbued with power (like relics of religions or shrunken heads and other mummified objects of witchcraft)?

Matt Rippon

Do we eat mummies? Are they good?