On one of our summer trips to the Witte Museum, we focused on Ancient Egypt.
Having deeply studied Ancient Egypt a few years ago we saw many familiar sights in person.
Mummification
Before the practice of formal mummification, the dead were buried curled up in the ground. Because of the hot dry conditions of Egypt, the bodies were well preserved…
Mummification cannot be called a true science, because Egyptians did not know WHY it worked.
Although they did not apply the scientific process, they did learn from experience WHAT worked.
Computers near this mummy of a lady detail today’s scientific process that explain WHY this works and HOW modern investigations determine WHO that mummy is.
Mummification in the Bible
The book of Genesis in the Bible records the mummificaion of both Joseph and his father, Jacob.
After being sold into slavery, then falsely imprisoned, Joseph miraculously becomes vizier,
During the devastating famine Joseph reunites with his brothers, who bring his father and the rest of the family to live in Egypt with Joseph.
Jacob is Mummified
At Jacob’s deathbed, Joseph made a promise.
Joseph threw himself upon his father and wept over him and kissed him. Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So the physicians embalmed him, taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days. –Genesis 50:1-3
The long journey in the heat of the sun required embalment.
So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh’s officials accompanied him-the dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Egypt-besides all the members of Joseph’s hoTusehold and his brothers and those belonging to his father’s household…Chariots and horsemen also went up with him. It was a very large company.
When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan, they lamented loudly and bitterly; and there Joseph observed a seven-day period of mourning for his father. When the Canaanites who lived there saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said: The Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning…
So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them: They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, which Abraham had bought as a burial place… -Genesis 50:7-13
Joseph is Mummified
Likewise Joseph’s desire to be buried in his homeland practically necessitated his mummification.
Then Joseph said to his brothers: I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt. -Genesis 50:24, 26
When the Hebrews fled Egypt for the Promised Land, they carried Joseph’s bones with them.
And Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver…-Joshua 24:32
Tumbling Ancient Egyptian Walls
My kids loved the Egyptian Art wall that rumbled to a crumble…Indiana Jones style.
Imagine you are in the depths of one of those dark mysterious pyramids when you suddenly hear a lot of rumbling, then the walls start shaking…
Oh no! The wall tumbled down!
After reassembling the wall my kids pushed a button that created inner groanings and roarings, like in the Indiana Jones moviest. After the wall shook and rumbleds…it fell down.
Every time we visited the Witte for a different exhibit, the kids wanted to interact with the wall Indiana Jones style one more time.
Tomb Art Paint Techniques
The art painted onto the Styrofoam blocks in the above activity is from the tomb of Pharaoh Thutmes IV in the Valley of the Kings, known as King in the Company of Deities.
Tombs were cut into limestone, that was smoothed with chisels made of copper or bronze after imperfections were filled in with plaster.
Once smooth, grid lines were applied with strings that were dipped in red paint.
If time was short, paint was directly applied to the smooth stone. But if there was time, intricate relief carvings were etched before painting.
Sourced from a wadi known as the Valley of Colors, pigments in shades of red, yellow, green, blue, white, and black were the most used.
Tomb Treasures
Beautiful works of art were mostly displayed in the pyramids with the dead, to aid in the afterlife.
Essential to their viewpoint of the afterlife, a wealth of treasures are found in Egyptian tombs.
Leaving archaeologists disappointed, grave robbers have razed many tombs over the centuries.
Although King Tut wasn’t one of the most significant pharaohs, he’s popular because his tomb was found intact with great wealth. That was a rare archaeological find!
