Sham S. Misri
King Tut’s
mummy was discovered in Egypt nearly a century ago. The word mummy that we use
in science comes from an old Turkish term that refers to a rock. It’s is the
process of making somebody like a rock. Being mummified looks a lot like being
turned into a stone. [The term] was picked up 800 years ago in Old English.
When you look at a mummy in a museum case, it does still have flesh on it. But
the flesh has been changed. It’s been dried out in a special way and treated by
experts. So it doesn’t feel like flesh. It feels like beef jerky.
In Ancient Egypt, there was an industry to
create cat mummies that would be buried with people. There is an archeological
site where a million cat mummies were created for sale. If you look closely at
some of those that turn up in Egyptian tombs, [you’ll see] they’re fakes. Someone
was trying to pass off a cat mummy when there were only sticks and stones
inside. We know that because we have a technology to look inside the mummy.
[Source: Time for kids]
