Tombs and Mummies

Directions: Please answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper! Ancient Egyptian Mummies Ancient Egyptian Mummies

Ancient believed that there (1) Why did Egyptians preserve the was a life after death called the bodies of dead people? '.' They also believed that a body had to be preserved after death (2) Who usually got made into so that a person could safely reach the mummies? afterlife. (3) How long did it take to make a And so, they Egyptians made mummies mummy? to preserve the dead bodies of kings, queens and nobles. Mummification was a (4) Why did Egyptians use the long, expensive process that took about chemical natron? 70 days to complete. Egyptians used the chemical natron to dry out the body (5) What organs does the article and prevent it from rotting away. mention?

First, the organs such as the stomach, (6) What happened to the organs? intestines, lungs, and liver were removed from the body and preserved (7) Where were the canopic jars with natron. The organs were then put placed? in jars called 'canopic jars' to be placed next to the body. The brain was then (8) What happened to the brain? pulled out of the head through the nose using a long hook. (9) How long was the body dried?

Then the body was covered with natron (10) Why was the body stuffed? and dried for about 40 days. After that, the inside of the body was (11) What was the body wrapped in? stuffed so that it would keep its shape. Then the body was wrapped in bandages. Finally, a religious ceremony was held to help the dead reach the afterlife. www.bogglesworldesl.com

Ancient Egyptian Beliefs Ancient Egyptian Beliefs

Ancient Egyptians believed that there (1) What did the ancient Egyptians was a life after death called the believe the afterlife was? 'afterlife.' They believed that the afterlife was a 'Field of Reeds' where (2) What was the afterlife like? people would live forever without sickness or death. (3) Who was allowed to enter the afterlife? But not everybody was able to reach the afterlife. Only people who were (4) Who weighed the of the good were allowed into the afterlife. dead? And so, to prove they were good, the dead were put on trial. (5) What did look like?

The God Anubis (who had the head of a (6) What did Anubis weigh the jackal) brought the dead person to the against? Hall of the Dead. There, Anubis weighed the dead person's heart to see (7) What did it mean if the heart was if it was heavier than the 'Feather of lighter than the feather? Truth.' If a person was good then their heart was lighter than the feather. (8) What happened to the heart if the heart was heavier than the However, if a person had done many evil feather? things, their heart was heavier. In that case, the demon Ammit (who had the (9) What did Ammit look like? head of a crocodile and body of a hippo and ) ate the heart and the person (10) What did the dead person have could not enter the afterlife. to swear?

Finally, if a person had a light heart, they were brought before the gods and had to declare that they had done no evil in life. They had to swear they had killed nobody or committed no evil. Only then could they enter the afterlife. www.bogglesworldesl.com

The weighing of the heart against the feather of Ma'at. (Give this image to students who read and explain the article on Ancient Egyptian Beliefs. The students can use it to help explain the weighing of the hearts and the passage to the afterlife.)

Sarcophagus with canopic jars. (Give this image to students who read and explain the article on Ancient Egyptian Mummies. They can use it to explain canopic jars to their group.) References: http://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/mummy/how.html