Famous Mummies And Their Breathtaking Tales: List Of 21

Oluwatosin Michael
Nov 02, 2023 By Oluwatosin Michael
Originally Published on Jan 04, 2022
Famous mummies will help you know more about the building projects and gilded shrines of every famous Pharaoh.
Age: 3-18
Read time: 8.2 Min

Mummies are dead humans or animals whose organs and tissues have been preserved to prevent further decomposition and decay.

Mummies can be found all over the world with Egyptian mummies being especially world-renowned. However, ancient Egyptians are not the only people who preserved the bodies and organs of the deceased.

This practice was used all over the world, and even those bodies which were accidentally preserved by the presence of natural chemicals, are considered mummies.

Mummification is the process by which these bodies are preserved. How that process is exactly done, we will discuss in detail. Apart from the mummy of King Tutankhamun, there are several more famous mummies around the world. Some of them are also displayed in museums like the New York based Metropolitan Museum of Art. Apart from those corpses, which were accidentally preserved as mummies, it is safe to say that intentional mummification was used to preserve the bodies of important figures in human history. In Egypt for example, bodies of kings and queens were preserved by the intentional mummification process.

Read on to know more about the mummies discovered in the Upper Egypt region. Afterward, also check famous Leonardo and famous landmarks in the midwest region.

What is mummification process?

The process of intentional mummification as we know it was developed in ancient Egypt as they believed that the soul lived on when the body dies. The idea behind mummification was to preserve the body so that the could return to its home even after death, thus enabling the deceased to live eternally. 

Mummies are considered cultural artifacts and over a million animal mummies have been discovered in Egypt.

Mummies are valuable ancient treasures and give first-hand insight into Egyptian history. The Mummification process requires the Embalmers to first and foremost remove the internal organs of the body as these decompose very quickly. The brain was removed in bits through the nostrils to avoid any damage to the face. Other organs were removed by making a cut usually on the left side of the abdomen, however, the heart was left in its place.

The removed organs were initially stored in jars and buried with the body but were later treated and wrapped and placed back in their place inside the body. Next was to remove all the moisture from the deceased body, by covering it with drying salt. The entire process of embalming would take about 70 days to complete. Then the sunken portions of the body were filled with Linen or cloth, and fake eyes were drawn on to give it a more lifelike image. After these steps, the mummy was wrapped in linen. Sometimes warm linen was also used to ensure additional safety. After all of these steps, the body was placed in a coffin and taken to the burial chamber.

Famous People Who Are Mummies

Vladimir Lenin: communist leader of early 1900s Russia, he died in 1924. Lenin’s body was placed in a stately building consisting of tombs after being embalmed. This mausoleum was situated in the Red Square.

Each year since, Lenin’s body is reworked with an annual cost of about $200,000 to re-embalm his entire body; this includes reattaching lost eyelashes and even fixing wrinkles and removing mold.

Otzi: discovered in the 90s, Otzi is considered one of the oldest mummies in the world. This mummified body of a man is named Otizi, because it was discovered by a couple, out on a hike in the Alps. It was later in 2000 that it was discovered that this body had been preserved under the cold temperatures for centuries and that whoever this person was, he had died between 3359 and 3150 BC, by an arrow wound. Ötzi's body can be found in the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Italy.

Gebelein Man: the first naturally mummified bodies of Egypt, known as Gebelein Man, is a collection of six naturally mummified bodies that belonged to the same grave. These are now part of a collection in the British Museum, with one, called 'Ginger', being on display continuously since 1901.

Jeremy Bentham: the famous philosopher, major contributor of various political science theories, had in fact left detailed instructions asking for his body to be mummified.

Hatshepsut and Ramses II: found in the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo, Egypt, and displayed in the Cairo Museum along with Gold Masks and Sarcophagus, the mummies of Queen Hatshepsut, a female Egyptian Pharaoh of the 1400s BCE and King Ramses II a later pharaoh of the about 1200s BCE are examples of flawless Egyptian Mummification. These mummies were so well preserved that they give clear insight into to the possible cause of death.

In the case of Queen Hatshepsut, the possible cause of death was carcinogenic skin lotions, causing her death in her '50s. King Ramses II reigned over Egypt after her for almost 60 years, as the most powerful king, who also constructed numerous monuments. His body displayed injuries, healed and unhealed, arthritis, and massive dental infection which is thought as a possible cause of his death. First kept in the Valley of the Kings, Ramses IIs body was later moved to the Royal Cache for fear of being robbed. It was later discovered to be rotting by a fungal infection, for the treatment of which the body was flown to Paris, by being issued an Egyptian passport.

Famous Mummy In America

In North America, the famous Spirit Cave mummies have been dated back 9400 years in Fallon, Nevada.

These mummies were also intentionally mummified. Before the Spirit Cave mummies were discovered, the Chinchorro mummies found in Chile, South America were the only intentionally mummified corpses found in the American continent, dating back to 5050 BC.

The Chinchorro mummies are found in northern Chile. These mummies are considered to be the oldest mummies in the world, as evidence suggests these bodies were artificially mummified 2000 years before the ancient Egyptian mummies, suggesting that the artificial mummification process in fact existed in other parts of the world before the Egyptians started it, with only about 29% of them being naturally mummified and the rest deliberately mummified.

Chinchorro mummies were mummies of several individuals belonging to the Chinchorro Culture and the Chinchorro artifacts and mummification processes have been declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Inca Mummies: the naturally preserved Inca mummies, found in Chile, Peru, and Argentina belong to the Inca Tribe. Known famously around the world as ice mummies, the Inca Mummies were naturally preserved due to cold temperatures. Various mummified bodies have been found including some famous ones like the Mummy of El Plomo, which is believed to be of a wealthy male child.

The first ice mummy was found in Northern Chile in 1954, when a volcanic eruption melted some ice, exposing the mummified body that was hidden under the ice. Until the discovery of another mummy in Southern Peru, Mummy Juanita, El Plomo was considered the most well-preserved body. Mummy Juanita was in fact so well mummified naturally that most of her internal organs and skin were still close to their original condition.

Famous Mummy From Egyptian History

King Tutankhamun: perhaps the most famous mummy in the world is that of the famous King Tut. The mummified body of ancient Egyptian powerful pharaoh child king, King Tutankhamun has been the subject of speculation for the longest time.

Discovered by the British archeologist Howard Carter in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, it was confirmed in 2005 after decades of tests and scans that King Tut had succumbed to injuries inflicted on him while hunting, putting an end to speculations around his death being caused by murder. Famous for becoming a Pharaoh at a very young age, King Tutankhamun was the last pharaoh of his Dynasty during the emergence of the New Kingdom. The New Kingdom referred to a time of Egyptian civilization between 16th BC and 11th BC. Pharaoh Tutankhamun was, however, succeeded by his penultimate successor, Ay, who was his grandson.

The story of Pharaoh Tutankhamun is also associated with a lot of stories relating to the mummy’s curse. While there was no mummy’s curse found written on or inside his tomb, the belief became stronger as several of Howard Carter's team members died of sudden deaths soon after they opened the wound. Even Lord Carnarvon, who had simply funded the dig, had died in a strange incident shortly after the tomb was disturbed. Even those people who merely visited the tomb were reported dead shortly after.

Thutmose III- Thutmose III was also an Egyptian Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty like King Tutankhamun. Thutmose III became a Pharaoh at the young age of two however, for nearly two decades, he was working alongside his stepmother Hatshepsut. After the death of both his parents Thutmose II (whose statue is erected at the Tahrir Square, where the National Egyptian Museum of Cairo is also situated) and stepmother, he went on to create the biggest Egyptian Empire ever. His tomb was found in the Valley of Kings in the Burial chamber with other royal mummies.

Another famous mummy in Egypt, also known as the youngest mummy in the world in that of a human fetus, who was likely dead due to miscarriage. The mummy has been identified as being 16-18 weeks at the time of death and is preserved in black resin. The tomb is so small that it only measures about 4-5 in (10.2-12.7 cm).

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for famous mummies and their breathtaking tales: list of 21 then why not take a look at 15 dazzling famous landmarks in the midwest region, or famous Leonardo's in history: List of 11 most popular ones?

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Written by Oluwatosin Michael

Bachelor of Science specializing in Microbiology

Oluwatosin Michael picture

Oluwatosin MichaelBachelor of Science specializing in Microbiology

With a Bachelor's in Microbiology from the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Oluwatosin has honed his skills as an SEO content writer, editor, and growth manager. He has written articles, conducted extensive research, and optimized content for search engines. His expertise extends to leading link-building efforts and revising onboarding strategies. 

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