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Ancient Civilizations
The beginnings of the art and techniques of embalming are associated principally with ancient Egypt, where, as in parts of Asia and South America, a dry soil and climate encouraged its development. The early practice of wrapping the dead in cloth and burying them in charcoal and sand beyond the reach of the Nile waters preserved the corpses, which retained form and features for a long period. "Those naturally preserved mummies are believed to have influenced the religious doctrines because they seemed to prove that the individual existed after his death."(1)
A belief in immortality and physical resurrection was central to Egyptian religion, both to the sun worship of early periods and to the later cult of Osiris. Central to the latter was the belief that when all of the elements that were present in life-soul, name, shadow, heart, and body- were reunited, the person would be resurrected, as the god Osiris was after his brother killed and dismembered him.
The body had to be attractive enough to lure back the soul and other elements. Highly skilled and trained embalmers took great care to preserve it. "Although it is held that embalming skill reached a peak during the New Kingdom
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period between 178 and 110 BC, the most detailed description of the various methods was given by the 5th century BC Greek historian Herodottus."() The most elaborate method, at first reserved for the royal dead, involved surgical procedures. The brain, intestines, and other vital organs were removed, washed in palm wine, and placed in canopic jars. The body cavities were filled with powder of myrrh and other aromatic resins and perfumes. The incisions were stitched, and the body was placed in nitre for 70 days, after which it was washed, wrapped in cotton bandages, dipped in a gummy substance, and finally confined and entombed.
A number of early peoples also practiced embalming of a sophisticated nature. There is evidence of a high degree of embalming skill in the burial chambers of the prehistoric Paraca Indians of Peru. The Guanches. aborigines of the Canary Islands, used methods much like those if the Egyptians, removing the viscera and filling the cavity with salt and vegetable powders. The Jivaro tribes of Ecuador and Peru took the additional precaution of ensuring the immortality of their chiefs by roasting their embalmed bodies over very low fires. In Tibet some bodies are still embalmed according to an ancient formula the corpse is put in a large box and packed in salt for about three months, after which it is in mummified condition.()
The ancient Babylonians, Sumerians, and Greeks didn't practice any but the most superficial kind of embalming, anointing the body with unguents, perfumes, and spices. "The Jews did not use embalming procedures either. Among the ancients who profoundly influenced Western culture only the Romans employed cavity embalming, not for religious reasons but for the temporary preservation of bodies exhibited for some time before burial."(4) Although there is evidence that some early Christians were embalmed, generally they rejected embalming as well as cremation, considering them pagan customs that mutilated the corpse. Such scruples were
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sometimes overcome by the desire to have an outstanding person linger on, a desire that was reinforced by the belief that the bodies of some of the devout were kept intact after death as a mark of divine favour.
During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance a good amount of embalming was done by specialists who employed the elaborate Egyptian method. For its return from France to England, the body of the 1th-century English king Henry I was embalmed and eviscerated and the cavities stuffed with medicinal herbs. Also, during the Middle Ages, embalming was such an expensive procedure that even the most royal personages could not afford it. It was unaffordable because of the use of costly things such as spices, unguents, wax, and wrappings in addition to the prices charged by skilled embalmers. "Also, religious opposition was so strong and skill so limited, few would really consider it. Instead they used cereclothes, strips of fabric impregnated with wax and wrapped snugly around the body to exclude air."(5)
Embalming by arterial injection as a mortuary practice is considered to have begun in England in the 18th century. The demand for embalming few in England as well as in the United States. It was promoted in the US by a newly emerging group of undertaker-businessmen as superior to the customary but awkward and often unsatisfactory method of preserving bodies for transportation or for viewing by
packaging them in ice or laying them on "cooling boards".
"The US Civil War became the turning point in breaking down public resistance to "mutilating" the body and establishing arterial embalming as a common
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practice in the United States."(6) Although the government had established national ceremonies for the war dead, it freely awarded contracts to undertakers and embalmers to prepare bodies of soldiers for shipment home.
In the modern procedure of embalming, the blood is drained from one of the veins and replaced by a fluid. Cavity fluid is removed with a long hollow needle called a trocar and replaced with preservative.
Embalming has become a standard practice in North America as a result of the government support is has received, and is mandatory when bodies are being transported by the common carrier.
It is evident that the Ancient Egyptians influenced other cultures with their embalming process. It was an extremely important part of Ancient Egyptians steps towards the afterlife, and now it is important to people in the present to preserve their loved ones. The process of embalming has evolved and improved throughout the centuries.
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