In the last fortnight, some of our Year 7 History classes have been taking our theoretical learning about Ancient Egyptian Beliefs & Funerary Customs to a new level – with a practical demonstration of mummification!
In order for Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs to successfully travel to and continue on in the Afterlife, they believed their bodies were needed. As such, the Ancient Egyptians perfected over time an artificial process by which they could preserve the outside shell of their bodies so that they could be maintained and used long after their life on earth had ended.
We decided that mummifying an actual person may not be the best idea – instead, we settled on the humble citrus family. 7AB, 7AR, 7AW and 7BR all brought their own oranges and lemons in to school and we set about the task of mummifying them! It was tricky, it was messy and for some of us it took a couple of goes – but ultimately it was a lot of fun.
The thing about mummification is that it is a long process. As such, we have now packed up our fruit into their sarcophagi and will wait until Term 4 to open them. We will find out then how successful our efforts have been – we will either discover a number of carefully mummified pieces of fruit, or a mouldy mess!
Wish us luck!
Miss Hannah Blackwell & Ms Stephanie Sedlar
Secondary School Teachers – HSIE (History)
