Mummification – The Art and Science of Preserving the Dead

Mummification – The Art and Science of Preserving the Dead Since the dawn of civilization, humans have had a bit of an obsession with keeping things fresh—food, memories, and, well... bodies. Enter mummification! This ancient practice, most famously associated with Egypt, was all about making sure that even in the afterlife, you looked as good as possible. Because let’s be honest, nobody wants to spend eternity looking like a shriveled raisin. Why Mummify? The main reason behind mummification was the belief in the afterlife. Ancient Egyptians thought that after death, the soul (or ka and ba, as they called it) needed a well-preserved body to return to. If the body decomposed, the soul would be lost—kind of like misplacing your house keys but on a much grander, eternal scale.