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Overview:
This lesson will introduce students to the places where mummies have been found and the reasons why some cultures mummified their dead. Students will read an article and a Web page about mummies from Egypt and other parts of the world, and they will answer questions about what they have read. They will conclude by writing questions they might ask if they were archaeologists looking for additional mummies.
Connections to the Curriculum:
Geography, world history
Connections to the National Geography Standards:
Standard 17: "How to apply geography to interpret the past"
Time:
Two to three hours
Materials Required:
Objectives:
Students will
- define the word "mummy";
- read and answer questions about a news article on mummies;
- read and answer questions about a Web page with information about an early mummy; and
- list five questions they would ask about a place to determine if it might hold undiscovered mummies.
Geographic Skills:
Asking Geographic Questions
Acquiring Geographic Information
Organizing Geographic Information
Answering Geographic Questions
Analyzing Geographic Information
S u g g e s t e d P r o c e d u r e
Opening:
Have students look up the word "mummy" in a dictionary to get a basic definition. The definition provided at the National Geographic News article below is "any ancient cadaver whose soft tissue has partially or wholly resisted decay."
Development:
Have students, either as a class or individually, read the news article "Book Report: Mummies Reflect Primal Urge to Extend Human Life."
Ask them to answer these questions about the article, either in writing or in a class discussion:
- What is a mummy?
- In what parts of the world have mummies been found?
- In what types of places have mummies been found?
- According to current scientific beliefs, what are some reasons people were intentionally mummified?
- What features of the natural environment can cause bodies to be mummified unintentionally?
Have students look at the picture of the reconstructed predynastic burial mummy and read the accompanying text.
Ask students to answer these questions about the picture and text, either in writing or in a class discussion:
- Was this person intentionally mummified?
- How was this body preserved, and how does this preservation relate to the Egyptian climate?
- Why do you think ancient Egyptians took such care to embalm their dead if the desert did the job for them?
Closing:
Discuss these questions as a class:
- What is the relationship between mummification and the natural environment? Provide specific examples from what you have read.
- What are some of the reasons mummies have been made?
- If mummies can be created in certain types of environments, why haven't they been found in all of these environments around the world? For example, if mummies can be created in bogs, why do you think they have only been found in certain bogs?
Suggested Student Assessment:
Ask students to pretend they are archaeologists who are interested in finding more human mummies around the world.
Ask students, either in groups or individually, to list at least five questions they would ask about a place to determine whether it might be a promising location to find human mummies. Their questions should relate to climate, culture, religion, and other factors they think are important. For example, they might want to ask whether a place has an arid climate, whether it contains any bogs, or whether its early civilizations are known to have buried their dead.
Extending the Lesson:
- Have students visit these Web sites to learn about the Egyptian mummification process:
How to Make a Mummy
Mummies Unmasked
- Have students attempt to solve the Mummy Road Show "mystery." Discuss the reasons why this mummy turned out to be something other than what its buyer thought it was.
- Have students take the Mummy Quiz. Discuss their answers as a class, and have them conduct further research to learn about a topic mentioned in this quiz.
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