What is Embalming?
'''Embalming''' is the act of [[preservation|preserving]] a [[corpse|dead body]], so it will not [[decay|decompose]]. If a human body is not embalmed, it will start to decay very quickly. Because of this, most bodies are embalmed if they will be on display (for example, [[lying in state]]) for a [[funeral]]. Embalming is similar to [[mummification]], which many [[Ancient history|ancient]] peoples did to dead bodies. Embalming is different from [[taxidermy]], where only the [[skin]] is preserved. == History == ===Mummification=== {{Main|Mummification}} [[File:KV54-Pottery-Dishes-OtherItems MetropolitanMuseum.png|thumb|Pottery, dishes and other items from the embalming cache of ancient Egyptian [[pharoah]] [[Tutankhamen]].]] The oldest mummified corpses that have ever been found were mummified around 5000-6000 [[BCE]]. These corpses are called the [[Chinchorro mummies]]. These dead bodies were mummified by ancient people who lived in the Atacama [[desert]], in what is now [[Chile]] and [[Peru]].<ref name=Brenner-2014>{{cite journal|last=Brenner|first=Erich|title=Human body preservation - old and new techniques|journal=Journal of Anatomy|date=January 2014|volume=224|issue=3|pages=316–344|doi=10.1111/joa.12160|pmid=24438435|pmc=3931544}}</ref> The [[ancient Egypt|ancient Egyptians]] often mummified dead bodies. They started mummifying corpses as early as 3200 BCE. They believed that once a dead body was mummified, the body's [[soul]] could find its way back to the body and begin its journey to the [[afterlife]]. ===Ancient embalming=== Ancient [[culture]]s from [[Ethiopia]], Peru, [[Tibet]], and southern [[Nigeria]] also used embalming techniques. So did the [[Guanches]], the [[Jivaro people|Jivaro Indians]], the [[Aztec]]s, the [[Toltec]]s, and the [[Mayan civilization|Mayans]].<ref name=Brenner-2014 /> In ancient [[Europe]], embalming dead bodies was less common. The earliest known preserved bodies in Europe are about 5000 years old. These bodies were covered in [[cinnabar]] to preserve them. Th