what was the purpose of mummification? preserving the body for the afterlife preventing decomposition
Historically, bodies have been preserved naturally through freezing, cold or dry heat or, in the right climate, through burial in a particular type of soil. Artificially, various methods of embalming or evisceration - removing the organs - have also been used. Why preserve the dead? It was usually done for religious reasons. In Ancient Egypt, mummification was performed because preserving the body intact was a requirement for resurrection. In Peru, mummies were produced through the drying of bodies from at least the 500s CE, also for religious reasons.