Embalming vs Mummification | San Tan Mountain View Funeral Home & Advance Planning Center (2024)

FAQs

Are organs removed during embalming? ›

NO. Embalming doesn't remove any organ in the body. Instead, the embalmer replaces the blood with embalming fluid – formaldehyde-based chemicals – through the arteries. For this reason, an embalmed body placed in a casket can last for many years.

The methods of embalming, or treating the dead body, that the ancient Egyptians used is called mummification. Using special processes, the Egyptians removed all moisture from the body, leaving only a dried form that would not easily decay.

Some villagers in Papua New Guinea still mummify their ancestors today. After death, bodies are placed in a hut and smoked until the skin and internal organs are desiccated. Then they're covered in red clay, which helps maintain their structural integrity, and placed in a jungle shrine.

Your loved ones eyes are closed using glue or plastic eye caps that sit on the eye and hold the eyelid in place.

I then puncture the internal organs to drain the fluid. I remove the contents of the intestines, bowels and bladder, too, as these can give off gases and smell. I don't come into contact with the fluids. It's very clean and tidy.

Embalming is not permanent as it only delays the natural process of death. Typically, it will preserve the body for around a week, but factors such as condition of the body and temperature conditions may affect this.

Body Preparation: The way a body is handled after death can impact the rate of decomposition and odor dissipation. Bodies that are embalmed or undergo refrigeration tend to decompose at a slower rate, thereby extending the time it takes for the odor to dissipate.

Embalming does not stop decomposition; it just slows it down. Though the rate of decomposition varies depending on temperature, moisture levels, and other variables, an embalmed body will last inside a casket for many years.

What Do Funeral Homes Do with the Blood from the Dead Body? The funeral home drains off the blood via the veins. They then send the blood and other fluids such as lymph into the municipal sewage system. In turn, the waste disposal officers treat these fluids before entering the town's wastewater system.

This is usually done to make the deceased suitable for viewing as part of the funeral ceremony or keep them preserved for medical purposes in an anatomical laboratory. The three goals of embalming are sanitization, presentation, and preservation, with restoration being an important additional factor in some instances.

How do morticians close the deceased mouth? ›

The oral and nasal cavities are swabbed clean, checked for any purge material, then the throat area is packed with cotton. A common method of mouth closure is via needle injector. A needle with a barbed tip and with a wire attached is driven into the maxilla, behind the teeth, and another driven into the mandible.

Seriously: at least in America, it is legal to mummify a corpse. There are organizations there that do this kind of thing. I am not sure about other countries, but I believe most of them don't have any laws on mummification at all.

Because to be done properly mummification was a lengthy and expensive process. The body cavity was packed with expensive herbs and spices and then the body was placed in a naturally occurring salt for 70 days.

Decay is a biological process and without water, biology can't work. This is why deserts preserve bodies so well and why Egyptian and Chinchorro mummification practices involved steps to dry out the body. The oldest Chinchorro mummy, Acha Man, was naturally preserved by the desert for more than 9,000 years.

It is important to remove these because they are the first part of the body to decompose. The liver, lungs, stomach and intestines are washed and packed in natron (A natural salt used to dry out dead bodies and internal organs in the mummification process).

For those who are embalmed and buried in a coffin, five to 10 years is a more typical decomposition timeline, he said. At that point, the tissue is gone and only bones remain. The quality of the embalming job also plays a role, Wescott said.