Year 8 Social Studies students learn about the Ancient Egyptian process of mummification.

Year 8 students are currently learning about Ancient Egypt and their beliefs, culture, lifestyle, and environment. To better understand one of the most fascinating traditions, students role-played and actively demonstrated the process of mummification. Students created death masks and removed organs from their fellow classmates before placing them into their respective canopic jars. They also showed what was believed to have happened to the mummified person in the afterlife where Anubis, the jackal-headed god, weighed the heart against a feather to see whether they have been good or bad in their life. If they are good, they are allowed to become gods themselves, but if they are bad, their soul is eaten by Ammit. 

The demonstrations were successful in showing that we not only learned about an ancient culture, but we also had the opportunity to 'experience' this tradition first-hand. The task leads to our final project where students create museum displays about an aspect of Ancient Egyptian life.