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Chicken Mummification 2008 |  |
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Chicken Mummification 2008 | |
Thank you for your donations of salt and baking soda.
| First Day November 12
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Second Day November 14
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Third
Day November 19
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Fourth Day November 25
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Fifth
Day December 1
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| First Day: November 12, 2008 | |
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| We begin with a chicken that is good enough to eat.. | We remove the internal organs just like the Egyptians did. For us, it is a bit easier. |
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| We weighed our chickens. King Cluck was 775 grams... | ...and King Bawk was 850 grams. |
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| We mix our salt and baking soda to make our own version of natron. | It is important to pack the natron inside and out. |
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| We try not to leave any part of the chicken uncovered. | Almost there... |
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| It is important to bury the chicken in natron to dry it thoroughly. | We'll check in on our chicken in a few days. |
| Second Day: November 14, 2008 | |
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| First, we must take the chicken out of the natron. | Then we have to clean any natron that is sticking to the outside of the bird. |
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| The natron we remove from the cavity is very wet "snow." It has the consistency of Italian Ice. | The inside must be cleaned as well. |
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| The skin has grown darker and tighter. The bones are visible now through the skin. | The wings still move as they did on day one, but they don't move as easily as before. |
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| King Cluck weighs in at 600 grams; he has lost 175 grams so far. | King Bawk has also lost 175 grams and now weighs 675 grams. |
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| The natron is packed back into our bird and then... | ...he is reburied in the natron to wait until next week. |
| Third Day: November 19, 2008 | |
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| Our chickens come out of the natron. | We need to scrape off as much as possible. |
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| The chicken is no longer good enough to eat. | It is not as flexible as it once was, either. |
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| King Cluck weighs 500 grams... | ...and King Bawk weighs 550 grams. |
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| We rebury our chicken pharaohs... | ...and then we wait again. |
| Fourth Day: November 25, 2008 | |
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| The natron is a much drier form of snow now. | We begin by removing the old material. |
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| The color change in our bird is dramatic. | Inside and out, the chicken is losing moisture. |
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| King Cluck has lost another 25 grams and now weighs 475 grams. | King Bawk also lost 25 grams and weighs 525 grams. |
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| The limbs are very tight and the skin is immobile. | We returned the chicken to the natron and wait again. |
| Fifth Day: December 1, 2008 | |
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| Our chickens emerge from the natron. | We clean them off again. |
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| They look very different from their plump and juicy days. | |
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| Both chickens maintained their weight from last week, so we're done with the drying process. | Cluck weighed 475 grams and Bawk weighed 525 grams. |
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| We begin wrapping the chickens in "linen." We use gauze. | We put a coating of syrup on the outside of the wrappings. |
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| The chicken's coating will keep moisture out. We then put an "amulet" on the chicken's heart. In this case the amulet is also going to keep it minty fresh. | One final layer and we're done. |
| Thank you to everyone who so generously donated salt and baking soda for our class project. | |
