Special articles, The art of Mummification between science and superstition, part.4

Mummy of the pharaoh Ramses II was the first to be carried on a plane abroad. In the year 1977, mummy of the great pharaoh was allowed to leave Egypt on a plane to Paris with the permission of the smart Egyptian president Anwar El Sadat as it was reported to him that the mummy was about to suffer serious fungal problems. The mummy as soon as arrival in Paris was treated royally by the French government which dedicated its best medical teams to help Ramses II mummy to cure. Then, the mummy returned to Egypt nearly after a year with a full recovery. The French medical experts published several books that represent their researches on that unique mummy.
Preserving a mummy is a great challenge even with our so modern technology but making a perfect mummy is the toughest target to reach.
A perfect mummy needs to be prepared in almost a vacuum container or an air sealed laboratory which should have no more than 1% of oxygen and almost no moisture to exist. Thinking deeply of what ancient Egyptians should have done to stick to that formula, makes the mind boggle. We may confirm that using a stone case to keep the mummy safe from the reach of air makes a lot of sense as well as covering it with flowers and plants sounds to be a smart technique to vacuum the oxygen. It seems that leaving that much of flowers to surround the mummy inside the sarcophagus was not just a bless for the dead but it had to do with making plants and flowers to consume oxygen once the sarcophagus is sealed and once to become dim. In side the Mummy case and while the absence of light, the chlorophyll substance and the Photosynthesis which normally allow plants to produce oxygen in sunlight would not function. Flowers such as Mandrake "mandragora", Night shades berry species and red berry were usually left with the royal mummy. The species of flowers which usually found next to the mummy are by natures toxic and poisonous which may also protected the mummy from insects attack. The second method to get rid of the oxygen which may surround the mummy could be by the use of a flaming substance that can be inserted into the sarcophagus in order to burn the remaining oxygen. After all the serious efforts of cutting and digging out such a heavy sarcophagus which in average could weigh 40 tons aims at making no access to air and moisture.
By Yasser Kamel for Museumegypt, All rights reserved. Copyrigt©Museumegypt.