Archaeological excavation is not a new phenomenon; it has been around for thousands of years. Its process is meticulous and can take a long time to complete a project. When digging up tombs or fossils, people need to be as gentle and precise as possible, but unfortunately, they aren’t always. Many archaeologists are currently focused on Egypt, specifically on excavating the tombs of commoners and pharaohs. One of the biggest ones is Cleopatra, whose resting place has yet to be found. Archaeologists have been looking for her tomb for years, with little to no luck. If her tomb is so hard to find, why are they still searching for it? And should they continue?
We have all heard of horror movies where one should not mess with the dead; The Evil Dead franchise is an excellent example. It is about a group of people who find the Necronomicon book, also known as The Book of the Dead. They discover it while others are looking for items they shouldn’t, and end up finding the book. In typical horror-movie fashion, they snoop through it, unleashing a world of terror. With this in mind, it feels oddly similar to what the archaeologists are doing to the tombs.
The mummification process was considered sacred to the Egyptians and involved several steps that often lasted many months. The tasks include washing the body and then removing all organs except the heart. Those organs were placed in individual jars; the body cavity was then filled with aromatic substances such as spices or herbs, and the jars were covered with natron salt for 40 to 70 days to remove moisture. Once it was gone, the body got stuffed with sawdust or linen to help it return to its standard shape. After that, they carefully wrapped the corpse in over 50 yards of linen, also placing amulets between layers for protection. After that, a funerary mask would be placed on the head of the body, and then the corpse would be finally ready to be placed in its forever resting spot. On some occasions, a priest would read spells from The Book of the Dead while the deceased was being buried.
This was a significant ritual for the ancient Egyptians; it’s believed that the soul needed a preserved body (known as the kha) to reconnect with the afterlife, allowing the spirit (known as the ba and kha) to live forever. If the soul is not able to return to its maintained corpse, it will be lost and not be able to go to the afterlife. This was so important: the Egyptians believed that if the soul were unable to go back to its body, the heart would be devoured by the Ammit.
Undoing everything people did to preserve the bodies is not only disrespectful, but it’s dumb. The Egyptians were so passionate about the afterlife and keeping everything, and digging it up doesn’t seem like the smartest thing. If something happens to the corpse while extracting, it could cause harm to many. We must stop disrespecting the dead and the people of ancient Egypt. This was something they never would’ve wanted to happen; they went through all the measures that they did to prevent this, which is why the tombs are hidden. We must stop before it’s too late.
