Whenever people die, they are most likely sent to a funeral home or are cremated; however, if the body is just laying out in a field, due to war or some other cause, upon dying, the dead body will immediately start to produce cell-eating bacteria. After some time, this process gives off gas and acid that will eventually kill the plants around it. Bacteria and bugs will eat the body until it turns into a skeleton. This process can take from about a month to a year depending on the climate of where the body is placed. The point is that according to the natural ecosystem, corpses will be decayed into skeletons sooner or later; however, there are a few special exceptions to this rule.
Meet the Lady of Dai, Xin Zhui. She was the wife of an upper merchant class man and she is also the world's most perfect mummy. She has most of her bodily fluids retained in her body to the point that her blood type can be identifiable. All of her joints can be moved, which is rare because dead bodies become stiff hours upon dying, and also she is over two-thousand years old.
This mummy is known as a "wet mummy." Despite being thousands of years old, mummies such as this one have withstood through the test of time and have yet to decompose into a skeleton. The secrets to the preservation techniques have yet to be identifiable, however, more importantly, the cause of death can be determined when working with wet mummies, because their bodies have enough fluid to go through an autopsy and provide evidence as to the cause of death. In the case of Xin Zhui, she died from a blocked artery which then caused her a heart attack, but not before the immense pain of her kidney stones caused her to topple over.
So what is up with mummies in the current news? Well, recently, the 29th of January to be exact, a mummy in a meditating position was found in Mongolia. It appears to be over two hundred years old and may be the body of a Buddhist monk who conducted self-mummification. According to the ancient scripts, when conducting self-mummification, the ultimate enlightenment and pathway to Heaven is achieved.
