Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness-Chapter 841 - 837: Beef Flavor, Crispy Crunch

Ancient Egypt had a clearly defined historical chronology starting from 664 B.C.

In the third century B.C., Manetho divided Egyptian history from the great unification under Menes to the conquest by Macedon's Alexander into thirty dynasties, upon which later historians further subdivided Ancient Egyptian history into nine periods.

The first was the Predynastic Period, around 4000 to 3100 B.C.

The second was the Early Dynastic Period, around 3100–2686 B.C., which included the first and second dynasties and saw the rise of Menes, the first Pharaoh to unify Upper and Lower Egypt.

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Of course, this is the most widely accepted speculation. History is too ancient, and there is not enough documentary history to prove that Menes was the first Pharaoh to unify Upper and Lower Egypt. In the study of Egyptian history, Narmer, Aha, and Scorpion King all have the potential to be the first unifier of Upper and Lower Egypt.

The third was the Old Kingdom Period, approximately 2686–2181 B.C., encompassing the third to the sixth dynasties. It was toward the end of this period that the Pyramids appeared; prior to this, there were only Mastabas.

Subsequently came the First Intermediate Period, the Middle Kingdom, the Second Intermediate Period, the New Kingdom, the Late Period, and finally the periods under Persian, Macedonian, and Roman rule.

From the first to the fourth period, slave states formed and unified dynasties emerged. From the fifth to the seventh period marked the reestablishment and expansion of the unified kingdom, while the eighth and ninth periods signified the decline of the Egyptian slave state and domination by foreign rulers.

But these are not the focus; the important point is that the Pyramids only appeared during the third period, the Old Kingdom Period.

This means that the ancient corpse before us is at least four thousand years old.

Four thousand years!

What an exaggerated figure!

Just standing before it, one almost feels as if they could see the era from thousands of years ago, when laborers would be made into mummies before being transported inside.

"The typical burial position with arms crossed over the chest, imitating the ancient Egyptian god of the afterlife Osiris, usually used for royal family members' burials. This suggests that this individual was very likely a member of the royal family," Vaziri observed the mummy's posture and made his judgment.

"However, this is not surprising. If he were not of noble lineage, he could not possibly possess such an abundance of burial goods. There are quite a few gold artifacts here, indicating his extraordinary status in life."

Vaziri pointed his flashlight at the murals around the room, which had become very blurry due to water seepage.

The flashlight beam cut through the enclosed tomb chamber and hit the wall, revealing countless dust particles dancing within the light. Everyone took deep breaths, disturbing and whirling the dust with each breath.

Most of the images on the upper walls were clear, but only a small part was recognizable at this level.

"The architectural style here also reflects the influence of a palace."

"Menes, the first Pharaoh to unify Upper and Lower Egypt, in his tomb at Negada, built a rectangular sacrificial hall out of bricks but created vertical ridges on the exterior walls to mimic wooden columns and reed bundles, evidently intending to replicate the palace of that era."

"This practice evolved from the residential architecture popular in Lower Egypt, where forms that originated from construction techniques gained aesthetic value."

"Because Menes originated from Upper Egypt, his use of this style was not just for lightness and decoration, but also because as the 'king of Lower Egypt,' Menes had to unify the architectural cultures of Upper and Lower Egypt in his tomb's construction."

Vaziri pointed to the square walls around them. The space was actually quite broad; everyone could stand up straight and hold their heads high.

"The tombs mimicked residential palaces because, in the early stages, tombs were regarded as dwellings for the afterlife."

"On one hand, people could only imagine the afterlife based on their daily lives; on the other hand, they could only use the most familiar architectures as a blueprint to explore the forms and styles of various other buildings."

[Damn impressive.]

[This must be worth a lot.]

[Don't you guys find this a bit scary?]

[What's there to be afraid of? It's been dead for thousands of years. Wouldn't it turn to dust if you just touched it?]

[Surely not.]

Bi Fang stepped forward, took a flashlight, and turned it on, shining it onto the mummy without even daring to breathe heavily.

This kind of stuff from such an era, one wouldn't dare to even touch it, let alone see it for the first time, afraid that their own breath might cause some accidental change.

The drone also quickly approached, providing viewers with a clearer and more detailed perspective.

The mummy was wrapped in an extremely large amount of winding sheets, completely enveloping the entire person in thick layers, only leaving the head and both hands exposed.

And Bi Fang even smelled a very peculiar odor.

Or rather, since entering the place, Bi Fang had been surrounded by various strange smells.

Bi Fang's sense of smell was very sharp, and outside the desert, the air was filled with a scent of earth and sand. Upon entering the tomb, there was an extremely strong smell of dampness and mold.

And the deeper inside they went, the heavier the musty and damp odors became.

This smell was not pleasant; in fact, it was very unpleasant, and Bi Fang was constantly tormented by it, but he had already gotten used to it.

However, when the sarcophagus was opened, an even stronger scent spread out.

It wasn't unpleasant.

Before modern formalin, all the most effective preservation methods had one goal in mind—dehydration.

Just like making ham, they tried to remove as much moisture as possible, and it would not spoil for over ten years, and the fragrance would become even more intense.

Mummies were also like this, but of course, they weren't salt-cured into ham, but rather embalmed with various fragrances.

Because of the dehydration, there wouldn't be any smell of decay.

Although the basement was very damp, the coffin still effectively blocked the moisture, so that the individual inside the coffin didn't turn into a pile of rotten liquid.

"The mysterious methods used to make Egyptian mummies are numerous, but the basic steps are simple: removal of the innards, thorough drying of the body, and wrapping the desiccated corpse."

"Over about 3000 years, the specific methods and quality of the preservation techniques varied, but the basic principles remained the same."

"Most of the mummies we find today were made using inherited methods, from which we can affirm that the preservation techniques used in the creation of Ancient Egyptian mummies were continuously perfected until they matured."

"They weren't suddenly an epiphany that happened overnight, but rather a continuous improvement and progression of the preservative materials used, which reflect the extraordinary wisdom of a great civilization."

"Like right now, with the head and hands exposed, this represents an early form of mummy making. As time went on, the body would be completely wrapped, with no bit of body tissue exposed."

Vaziri explained on the side.

[So, Master Fang, what does it smell like?]

[Does it stink?]

[I heard that people in Central Country used to grind mummies into powder to use as health supplements, claiming it could cure impotence.]

[Holy shit, is that true?]

Bi Fang shook his head.

"It doesn't stink, on the contrary, if you sniff carefully, there might even be a hint of a fragrance."

[A fragrance, really?]

[Has Master Fang taken bribes? I don't believe it]

[This thing has been rotting for over four thousand years, and it's still fragrant?]

"Really, I smelled something like pine resin."

Vaziri raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

The experts nearby also crowded around to take a sniff, but they couldn't detect any particular odor.

Vaziri didn't doubt it though, because the preservatives used in making Egyptian mummies did indeed include pine resin. However, it stood to reason that after such a long time, there wouldn't be any smell left, perhaps Bi Fang had a particularly keen sense of smell.

"Before the pharaonic dynasties, corpses were wrapped in silk or linen and buried in the hollow tombs of the desert."

"If the corpses weren't discovered and torn apart by jackals, the hot and penetrating sand would dry out the body's moisture, leaving the corpses looking like black-robed leather chair covers, yet still recognizable after thousands of years."

"Simple sand burials were common among the farmers, but during the pharaonic eras, pharaohs and other nobles were interred in more elaborately prepared tombs."

"Unfortunately, placing bodies in relatively cool, damp underground tombs made them prone to decay."

"If a pharaoh wanted both a splendid resting place and a well-preserved corpse for eternal life, they needed a new method of processing bodies."

"Drying could be achieved using techniques for preserving food and furs, just like curing fish or meat."

"But preserving a pharaoh's body in the same way as pickles wasn't very aesthetically pleasing, so a mysterious process offered a better way: embalmers used natron as a desiccant in hot, dry sand or in a natron-solution place."

"It's a natural sodium compound that removes the most decay-prone organs, while the heart, thought to be the seat of thought, was left inside."

[I knew this, the viscera contain too many microorganisms, removing them also aids in preservation]

[Is that so?]

[Awesome]

Vaziri continued.

"The Ancient Greek writer Herodotus left many records on the preservation of corpses, many of which reflect a late or perhaps degenerate state of embalming."

"He detailed three different mummification methods, each varying in extent and cost."

[So realistic, huh?]

[This Herodotus sounds familiar, like I've heard of him somewhere]

[Master Fang just talked about him not long ago, didn't you pay attention in class? This is how you get a knock on the head!]

"The first-class service involved the embalmer using an iron tool to extract the brain through the nose, then removing the viscera through an incision in the side. The body cavity was washed with palm wine and spices before being filled with spices. The body had to be laid in natron for 70 days."

"After the mummification process concluded, the body was cleaned, wrapped in high-quality linen, smeared with pine resin, and placed inside an anthropoid wooden case."

"If there wasn't enough money, a cheaper, second-class service could be requested."

"They would skip the steps of extracting the brain and opening the abdominal cavity, directly injecting pine resin into the abdomen through the anus, and then placing the body in natron for preservation."

"After 70 days, the stopper in the anus was removed, allowing the oil and dissolved intestines to flow out. What the embalmers returned to the relatives was a body reduced to skin and bones."

[Damn, isn't that disgusting?]

[It's all about faith (facepalm)]

[After all, these are ancient people from thousands of years ago, they truly believed in this stuff.]

[And they had different ranks, too.]

"The third rank, for the poorer individuals, could only hope for simple rinsing to clean the abdominal cavity and a 70-day soaking for preservation."

"However, Herodotus' detailed descriptions of the embalming process also contain obvious mistakes."

"Other sources suggest that the embalmers used juniper oil, not cedar oil."

"The entire preservation process required 70 days, of which 40 days were spent wrapping the body inside and out with bags of sodium carbonate to dehydrate it."

"Sometimes embalmers adopted a simplified procedure, omitting the removal of the viscera, and substituting onions and garlic for the appropriate aromatic preservatives."

"These inferior techniques and clearly deceptive actions were evident in the mummy's wrappings, with severely incomplete viscera, broken or missing bones, and animal remains or wood chips used to fill the body."

"Chemists had attempted to extract and analyze the components of ancient preservatives; some believed the preservatives were derived from cedarwood because it contains a chemical called p-methoxyphenol, absent in the oil of juniper."

"By comparison, cedarwood, unlike other less commonly used preservatives, could hinder bacterial growth and effectively preserve animal tissues."

"What an eye-opener."

Bi Fang exclaimed in admiration.

As a professional, Vaziri's explanations were clearly more detailed than his.

After all, this information about Egypt was gathered through his own research and not given by the System, so it was naturally somewhat disorganized in presentation.

Vaziri passed the flashlight to the head and pointed at the mummy's teeth with his finger, "Look at this mummy's teeth, they're very intact."

"This also suggests his prominent status in life," Bi Fang continued.

"Indeed, if it were a commoner, the teeth wouldn't be this neat and intact."

"Before introducing modern technology to determine the age of ancient organisms, we would use indirect methods, such as estimating the age of the mummy by the coffin decoration, the decedent's name, and the grave goods, which is usually uncertain."

"Sometimes the inaccuracy is because some mummies had been tampered with by tomb raiders, ending up damaged in new, mismatched coffins."

"Now researchers can use CT scan three-dimensional imaging to determine the mummified figure without having to unwrap the shrouds."

"This method allows scientists to detect previously unknown Egyptian burial practices, as well as the grave goods placed within the mummies."

"If the tissue samples are uncontaminated or collagen is available for use, carbon-14 dating can estimate the age of the mummy, but removing impurities from the mummy material is difficult."

"X-ray analysis can also provide valuable data about medical and dental diseases, estimate the age of death, and the biological changes, making modern scholars' research more objective and rational."

[Pharaoh: I never dreamed I would get a CT scan.]

[I predict, within 100 years, all these researchers will die from the Pharaoh's curse.]

[I just want to know what it tastes like, whether it's similar to beef jerky.]

[I heard that Europeans used to soak mummies in honey and after they were well-soaked, they'd add it to pastries as a secret ingredient.]

[Mummies were made using many aromatic preservatives, so it could be the taste of air-dried cumin beef.]

[Cumin is indeed a spice.]

[I made a decision that goes against our ancestors.]

[Arabs checking on Ancient Egyptians' nonexistent ancestors (Dog's head).]

"The mummy is another name for a dried corpse, and the Ancient Egyptians had their own unique system of divine worship, believing that after death one's heart would be weighed by the gods; the soul would then enter reincarnation and finally attain eternal life in the body."

"It was under the influence of this belief that the Ancient Egyptians made efforts to preserve the integrity of the body, to prevent the 'returning soul' from being without a vessel."

Cameras beside them snapped continuously at the mummy, and flashes of white light flickered incessantly in the pitch-black tomb.

After one last glance that satisfied his curiosity, Bi Fang joined others at their invitation in moving the tomb's grave goods.

The variety of grave goods once again had the audience exclaiming in surprise.

Until the next day, the white tent outside the cave was filled with various objects, and the number of people at the camp had also exceeded fifty; the overall progress of work had sped up significantly. The original low cave had been enlarged quite a bit, for the convenience of eventually moving the entire mummy with the coffin out completely.

Time had passed too long; the mummy could only be moved horizontally. If tilted or jostled, the Pharaoh might completely fall apart.