Modern Mummification

Raised on a steady diet of mail-order esoterica, weirdos need to go the extra mile to impress me. Here's one: the cult of modern mummifiers called Summum.

Cat Mummification in Progress (Wikimedia)

 

Founded in 1975 in Utah by Summum Bonum Amon Ra ('Corky Ra' to his friends), Summum is a cocktail of neoplatonism, early 20th century hermeticism, and the special revelations Corky Ra received from small blue extraterrestrials. A bunch of his lectures are online, some with great titles like 'Mummification, Kung Fu, and Ale'. It's pretty good stuff as far as new age groups go. They also sell special meditation wine that is aged inside a pyramid:

The sacramental nectars of Summum are just such natural condensers of charged elemental energies. Based upon an ancient pre-Egyptian formula, these soma nectars are produced in a large pyramid in Salt Lake City, Utah. Within the pyramid, they are left in a creative state for seventy-seven days, then aged from one to fifteen years. The nectars are called "publications" because they contain spiritual concepts and information.

This paragon of infographics helps us visualize the process. This is definitely the world's only pyramid that is also a bonded winery.

This is what I really mean when I tell my wife that I'm working on a 'publication' (summum.org)

This is all very entertaining, but what we're really here for is the mummification. The 'modern mummification' process (which they call 'mummification of transference') is different from the ancient Egyptian equivalent:

“The ancient Egyptians turned people into a dried-out object like beef jerky. But our wet process keeps the body fresh and supple,” said Ra. “When, after several months, we remove the bodies of animals that have been kept in my special preserving solution in a sealed tank, their owners are surprised to find their pets have soft fur, eyes that look normal and healthy and there is a total absence of rigor mortis.“ The body being mummified is taken from the preserving liquid vat, cleaned, covered in soft lanolin cream. It's then wrapped in 27 layers of gauze, the only similarity to a typical mummy. The body is then encased in resin (like the natural amber holding dinosaur DNA in Jurassic Park) and then painted over and sealed in with a plastic paint. They are next covered in plaster used in broken bone casts and finally, if an animal, covered in gold leaf paint or any other color. 

Finally, they are put into solid metal mummiform containers, like the one holding 'Rooster', a bull mastiff (shown here as the gold leaf was being applied). Once finished, you can put the mummy on display in your home, or wherever.

This public access TV video has some great images of the process:



More video from Nat Geo (with some truly goofy moments) and Discovery (who get Corky talking about the little blue extraterrestrials).

It seems like Summum's bread and butter is pet mummification; so far it seems only Corky himself (who died in 2008) has been given the full human treatment. (He and his mummiform rest inside the pyramid, presumably not far from the wine.) According to an interview in Edit International, almost 1500 people have paid up in advance to be mummified after death, including British tycoon Mohammed El-Fayed! According to Corky,

We are dealing with 167 of the rich and famous and their children, some of them movie stars who want their bodies to last as close to forever as possible. They have contracted with Summum to be perfectly preserved with their genetics and DNA to become the advanced beings of the future. We had to sign special agreements with their lawyers that their names would not be used.

One of the implications of 'modern mummification' - or so everyone hopes - is that it will preserve the body and DNA well enough for later revival and pave the way for immortality. It's an archaeopop twist on cryonics and other flavors of 70s futurism - supporting my contention that archaeology and science fiction are more or less the same thing in popular culture.

Corky Ra with a friend (source)

I find myself totally liking these people. They're new age but in no way sinister, and provide a bizarre but interesting service. They seem so All-American. Hopefully one day I can make it to the pyramid!

More chainmail pets

Everyone loved the dachsund in chainmail we saw last month. Guess what?!?!?! HERE'S MORE PETS IN CHAINMAIL.

Deviantart user Rossic has a well-protected cat:

Lest you disbelieve that a cat would consent to wear this, here's video proof:

 This here, however, is the pro version kombat kitteh:

Fab.com, vis jcschokl

Apparently hamster chainmail has also been attempted. I don't fancy trying to get the hamster in there though.

Via Ansarum on Deviant Art

And finally, another one of our original dachsund friend. At least I think it is. It's got a coat of arms too! Adorable.

Fugly.com

Dog lover? Read on:

A Dachsund Wearing Chainmail
Playing Fetch in the Palaeolithic
Adopt a Dog from Pompeii

A dachsund wearing chainmail

A dachsund wearing chainmail. That is all. Via Copyranter.

Playing fetch in the Palaeolithic

 

Today's mammoth NOMs brought to you by Discovery News:

The remains of three Paleolithic dogs, including one with a mammoth bone in its mouth, have been unearthed at Předmostí in the Czech Republic, according to a new Journal of Archaeological Science paper.
The remains indicate what life was like for these prehistoric dogs in this region, and how humans viewed canines. The dogs appear to have often sunk their teeth into meaty mammoth bones. These weren’t just mammoth in terms of size, but came from actual mammoths.
In the case of the dog found with the bone in its mouth, the researchers believe a human inserted it there after death.
"The thickness of the cortical bone shows that it is from a large mammal, like a rhinoceros, steppe bison or mammoth," lead author Mietje Germonpré told Discovery News. "At Předmostí, mammoth is the best represented animal, with remains from more than 1,000 individuals, so it is probable that the bone fragment is from a mammoth."

I call that burying Fido properly. These dogs had heads with a similar shape to the Siberian husky, but were larger and more muscular. That's a big dog! It's unusual to find such strong evidence of domestication at such an early date, but being an archaeological optimist, I'm more pleased than surprised. So many of the things that surround us have very deep roots, including throwing bones for your favorite furry critter.

Adopt a Dog from Pompeii

Pompeii is home to a posse of stray dogs who more or less have the run of the ruins. They also strike painfully cute poses like this.


Odone lounges.

The administration at Pompeii and Italian animal welfare organizations have teamed up to try to find these pooches new homes. They all have cute Roman names:

Walking along Pompeii ruins, you could also meet Odone, Paquio, Vesonius, Asclepio or Polibia. These names are inspired to the archaeological area where the dogs live and to the ancient owners of the historical Houses.

..and you can actually apply to adopt one at a booth on site! Check out the website, "I Cani di Pompei" (the dogs of Pompeii) for more.

It's an interesting marketing angle - they're pitching the dogs as a souvenir of Pompeii:"take home a life and a story from Pompeii". Since one can't buy artifacts from Pompeii anymore a stray dog who's intimately familiar with the ruins is the next best thing. It's a clever and kind way of saving tourists a lot of bother.


Meleagro stalks the ruins.

The project is called "(C)ave Canem", a fun play on words ('cave' means both 'beware of' and 'take care of', while 'ave' is a salutation. And it's also playing on the famous mosaic from the House of the Tragic Poet, which you've probably seen before, somewhere:

(Soprintendenza archeologica di Pompei)

Thanks to Kevin D.'s facebook feed for the link!