Mummy

Contrary to popular belief, mummies were not merely the invention of the Egyptian, although they may have been the first known civilisation to intentionally perfect the process of mummification for religious purposes. Mummies are made when a corpse is exposed to certain chemical or environmental elements, that cause the body to be preserved, rather than to decompose as thoroughly as one might, had the body been say, buried without preservation, in a burlap bag, in the middle of the woods somewhere. Incidentally, a mummy could be a corpse with who actually the body of a man dumped into a muddy bog, and held suspended there in the earth, without ever being exposed the air.

Or, it could be a corpse who was exposed to the air, but only in an area in which the air had no or very low humidity. Another instance, and well known incidental form of mummification, is when the corpse is exposed to extreme cold, such as being frozen solid in the arctic. However, some of the oldest mummies, and the best preserved, are from  Egypt, where the mummification process was perfected over a long period of time.

The process was… really quite icky. The organs, all except the heart, were removed and placed in canopic jars. The heart was left inside the body, because when the dead left their body, the heart had to be taken with them to the underworld. They would be judged by the weight of their heart, and that would determine their path in the afterlife. The intestines, stomach, etc, were all removed. However, the brain was believed to be useless, so the nose was broken, and then hooks were inserted into the nasal cavity, to liquefy the brain matter, and then the head was tilted forward so that brain could drain through the nose. Afterwards, the body was dried thoroughly with salt, wrapped tightly in linen bandages, then covered again with canvas, and finally placed within a sarcophagus.