The English word mummy is derived from medieval Latin mumia, a borrowing of the medieval Arabic word mūmiya (مومياء) which meant an embalmed corpse, as well as the bituminousembalming substance. This word was borrowed

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While interest in the study of mummies dates as far back as Ptolemaic Greece, most structured scientific study began at the beginning of the 20th

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Mummies are typically divided into one of two distinct categories: anthropogenic or spontaneous. Anthropogenic mummies were deliberately created by the living for any number of reasons, the most common being for religious purposes. Spontaneous mummies, such as

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Until recently, it was believed that the earliest ancient Egyptianmummies were created naturally due to the environment in which they were buried. In

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In Christian tradition, some bodies of saints are naturally conserved and venerated.

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Africa
In addition to the mummies of Egypt, there have been instances of mummies being discovered in other areas

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Monks whose bodies remain incorruptwithout any traces of deliberate mummification are venerated by some Buddhists who believe they successfully were able to mortify their flesh to death. Self-mummification was practiced until the late 1800s in Japan

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