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Author Topic: Mummy Unwrapping  (Read 1304 times)
Jarod20
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« on: November 04, 2007, 05:55:39 pm »

King Tutankhamun unwrapped http://news.aol.com/story/_a/egypt-unveils-king-tuts-mummy/20071104085709990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

I had also heard a rumor that at one time Mummies were used as fuel for locomotives or crushed into powders for makeup and strange concoctions, but that can't be true could it?

But Victorian socialites with connections to spiritualism or the funds for a museum or college connections could get there hands on mummies for big mummy unwrapping events, where they would remove the cloth from the remains as entertainment, such disrespect for the dead the lost king would spin in their sarcophagi
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Saphyra
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« Reply #1 on: November 04, 2007, 06:30:01 pm »

I had also heard a rumor that at one time Mummies were used as fuel for locomotives or crushed into powders for makeup and strange concoctions, but that can't be true could it?

That is true, it was discussed in a newspaper article about the unwrapping and MRI, I think, that was being done on the mummies at the Putnam Museum. Now to figure out where I put that article.
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Miss Groves
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« Reply #2 on: November 04, 2007, 06:32:55 pm »


Totally true...
Powdered mummy remains were often sold as ingredients for medicine etc. at one time the demand for mummies was so hight there were reports of people being murdered to fuel the demand and fake or empty sarcohagi used.
If i remember rightly there was an incident where hundreds of mummified cats were just used as fuel because they were thought to be of no value at all.
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Jarod20
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« Reply #3 on: November 04, 2007, 06:51:41 pm »

ghastly, poor Bast...
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Saphyra
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« Reply #4 on: November 04, 2007, 06:54:26 pm »

Not only were the mummies used for fuel, and the linen used for paper, but ground mummy was used as medicine because of a bad translation from Arabic. The paper made from the linen was quite brown and not suitable for fine paper uses, so much was made into paper bags, used for groceries, leading to an outbreak of diseases (how did the mummies die?) Mummified cats were a very popular Victorian ornament, but eventually also became fuel for the fire because they thought coal was bad for ones lungs. Artists also made use of Egyptian mummies during in the form of paint. The brownish paint was called "Caput Mortum", Latin for "Dead Head", and made from the wrappings of mummies. Hmm, have another article running around here on how to make Caput Mortum without the dead things.

And it was a CT scan, not an MRI that was done.


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Prof. Brockworth
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« Reply #5 on: November 04, 2007, 08:07:56 pm »

Zahi Hawass continues to give as good a show as the mummies themselves, I see Wink
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Jake of All Trades
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« Reply #6 on: November 04, 2007, 08:53:18 pm »

Artists also made use of Egyptian mummies during in the form of paint. The brownish paint was called "Caput Mortum", Latin for "Dead Head", and made from the wrappings of mummies. .[/i]

Yup, but from my understanding there was high demand for paint made from their pulverized bodily remains as well.  There's a mineralogical museum on my university's campus that has a couple tubes of such pigment on display.  I'm not sure which part of all this is more revolting to me; the cannibalism* or the extreme disregard for historical importance. 

*Using dead humans for fuel and paint counts, in my book.
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« Reply #7 on: November 04, 2007, 09:19:33 pm »

The extreme disregard for history, in my mind. They were already dead, but they're culture could have lived on.
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Jarod20
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« Reply #8 on: November 04, 2007, 09:33:35 pm »

The idea of using the dead bodies for such mundane uses, but yet now people use the ashes of loved ones for diamonds, paintings, fireworks but it isn't like someone is digging up your ancestors without your knowledge
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AFGNCAAP
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« Reply #9 on: November 05, 2007, 12:32:25 am »

More raygun-toting bands of renegade historians were needed back then to stop such abominations.  Angry
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kiskolou
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« Reply #10 on: November 05, 2007, 01:12:26 am »

That would be an AWESOME show! Rogue historian/explorers in a hunting down tomb robbers and threats to historical documents throughout TIME!

They could even stop the burning of the library of alexandria. But then, they would change history, making all subsequent arifacts usless. But then, wouldn't time-travel change everything, rending their purpose pointless? Unless, there were many squads, each for each separate dimension, and the history thereof.

Okay, i went too far.
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heavyporker
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« Reply #11 on: November 05, 2007, 04:20:59 am »

They don't have to *stop* the burning of the Library of Alexandria.

All the time-travelling historians have to do is take the documents back to the safe present, and put reams of blank paper back into the burning ages.

Then you have the miracle of knowing what the ancients knew, and history is still safe.

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Vienna Fahrmann
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« Reply #12 on: November 05, 2007, 04:47:28 am »


     I vote for armies of vengeful, undead tomb guardians.

     Vienna
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AFGNCAAP
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« Reply #13 on: November 05, 2007, 04:49:42 am »

Oh, those usually end up on the historians' side...if they know the language in which to explain themselves.
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Vienna Fahrmann
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« Reply #14 on: November 05, 2007, 04:53:31 am »


     I would hope that they are on the historians side, I'd just like to see the tomb robbers and black market artifact dealers chased down by vengeful undead.

     Vienna
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CinnamonAndSpite
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« Reply #15 on: November 05, 2007, 07:35:21 am »

It wasn't just snake oils and powdered mummy remains, but there were actually Mummy Unwrapping parties amongst socialites. (ne the Poe story,  “Some Words with a Mummy” http://www.eapoe.org/works/tales/mummyc.htm )

All of which ended in some serious destruction of history, unfortunately. But its rather interesting to see Tut's face. I'm a sucker for Egyptology.
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