Since we have been learning so much about the mummification process, I decided it would be fun to actually mummify something. There were a few choices: Mummify a chicken, a tomato, or an apple. My kids wanted nothing to do with mummifying a chicken, I love tomatoes too much to mummify a tomato, so we agreed that an apple would be the victim of mummification.
We used the idea from this Archaeology kit. There was a manual of all things Ancient Egyptian inside and on page 8, we found instructions on mummifying an apple.
The point was to illustrate how the mummification process works.
Basically, we cut an apple into slices (apple rings) and dipped them in a salt water mixture which will more or less embalm the apple rings. The goal was to dry the apple rings in order to preserve them. This is done by removing water from them, just as in the process of mummification. Here are our mummified apple rings after 10 days. They feel soft and kind of rubbery.
That should do it for our lessons in mummification. I think we all learned a lot and hopefully we will retain most of it.
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