Mummies...?

Question

Since they are embalmed, does that mean that when they are discovered some thousands of years later, they still have flesh? Or are they only bones?

Answer 1

They have dried flesh....kinda like beef jerky.

Answer 2

They have more than just flesh intact. Usually they will have hair, nails, etc still intact to some degree. Mummies are also not just an Egyptian oddity. They can occur both naturally and on purpose throughout the world. In the Andes placing bodies at high altitude was the proffered way to dry the body of all its moisture. This type of mummy was rarely "embalmed" in the sense that I think you are talking about (i.e. with organs removed and chemical drying process).

Answer 3

you can tell a lot about some cultures by the tattoos left on their preserved skin.  It is thought it was a way of treating ailments, and xrays tend to confirm this.  amazing isn't it??

Answer 4

Yes they have some dried flesh on them.

Answer 5

That depends on where and when the mummy was embalmed. For example, different parts of Ancient Egypt had different methods of making mummies.

Here is what the article "Mummy" (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th edition, 1875-89) says:

"The processes of mummification varied in different parts of Egypt and at different periods. The mummies made at Memphis are black, dry, and brittle, whereas those of the best Theban epoch are yellowish, flexible, and so clastic that the flesh yields to the touch of the finger and the limbs may be bent without breaking. Champollion-Figaec attributes this exquisite softness and elasticity to the injection of costly chemical liquids into the veins, whereby the substance of the flesh was preserved. The matron process, on the contrary, on the contrary, destroyed the flesh, leaving only the skin and the bones. By some schools of embalmers the cavity of the skull, after the withdrawal of the brain, was washed out by an injection of refined bitumen, the effect of which was to preserve the membranous covering which has frequently been found inside the brain-pan, dried and unimpaired. Hair is constantly found on the heads of mummies, sometimes plaited, sometimes frizzled, - thus showing that the fashion of wearing wigs was by no means universal."

Answer 6

Still have some flesh left.  The Egyptians were amazing as embalmers for that time in world history.