Georgia's Exploring Our World: Africa, Southwest Asia, and Southern and Eastern Asia © 2012

"Egyptian Mummies"

Introduction
In this chapter, you learned about the highly developed civilization of ancient Egypt. The early Egyptians were a structured society headed by a pharaoh. The people believed their pharaohs were gods as well as government leaders. When the pharaohs died, they were buried in elaborate tombs built in the shape of pyramids. Thousands of years later, many of the pyramids still exist in Egypt, and their contents remain a source of evidence as to the everyday life of the people of their time.

Destination Title: Mummification

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Directions
Clicking on the link above will take you to the British Museum's Ancient Egypt site.

• Click on "Egyptian Life" and on the title on the next page to read about life in ancient Egypt.
• Then select "Story" to read the parallel accounts of a day in the life of a nobleman's family and a farmer's family.
• Click on "Explore" and examine the wall paintings from the tomb of a nobleman.
• Navigate back to the main page. Read some of the other sections about life in ancient Egypt, including the section on Mummification.

After reading the information, answer the following questions:

1			What seem to be the similarities and differences in the lives of a nobleman's family and a farmer's family? How are their surroundings and their possessions different?
2			Why do you suppose we cannot examine wall paintings that depict the life of an ancient Egyptian farmer?
3			Why did the ancient Egyptians begin the practice of mummification?