Technique of preserving a body whereby the viscera and brain are extracted from the dried body prior to embalming it in sodium carbonate and finally wrapping it in bandages and a canvas shroud. This treatment of a cadaver, the mummy, had the aim of preserving a life-like appearance and was used by the Egyptians from the time of the Old Kingdom. The preservation of the body was an essential part of ancient Egyptian funerary practice, since it was to the body that the ka would return in order to find sustenance. If the body had decayed or was unrecognizable the ka would go hungry, and the afterlife would be jeopardized. Mummification was therefore dedicated to the prevention of decay. In the New Kingdom, new techniques of removal of internal organs (though in the Late Period they were replaced after treatment), use of effective desiccating agents, and subcutaneous padding made mummification possible on a large scale. Sacred animals and birds were also mummified. Mummification was accompanied by elaborate rituals. Among the many other peoples who practiced mummification were people living along the Torres Strait, between Papua New Guinea and Australia, and the Incas of South America. The term is also applied to bodies accidentally preserved in this way in other parts of the world, as in desert regions of Peru and Andean caves.
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