Hands on mummification

The study of Ancient Egypt is important for history students to understand the evolution of human societies and to provide a unique perspective of ancient civilisations. Students in Year 7 have been investigating the pioneering inventions of the Ancient Egyptians. A huge thank you to Kate Blake for designing this creative lesson to engage students in the study of past beliefs and practices.

Brigida Zagora
Head of HSIE (Social Sciences and Humanities)

Teacher Reflection

This semester, Year 7 History students have been exploring the world of Ancient Egypt. They have learnt about Egyptian gods and goddesses, written their names in hieroglyphs and examined tomb paintings to learn about the lives of the Egyptians. Recently in class, the students had the opportunity to mummify zucchinis, consolidating their knowledge of the mummification process and afterlife beliefs of this ancient society. The students had a great time getting ‘hands on’ with history, and even a little bit messy. Some students hope to unwrap their mummies later in the year to see how well the process was undertaken.

Kate Blake
Year 7 History Teacher

Student Reflection

This term in History class, we have been learning about Ancient Egypt. We also learnt about their mummification process. This is when they preserve some of their dead bodies (only rich and important people like the Pharaoh) before they seal them into their tombs. We have learnt the process, and had an activity to mummify a zucchini! We bought a zucchini, a container that fits the zucchini, a spoon, around 10 cotton balls and our teacher gave us some paper to cut out to act as the zucchini’s jewels buried with it. Our teacher gave us a little container, bandages and some masking tape. First, we used the spoon to ‘gut’ the zucchini. We took as many organs out as we could, then stuffed the small container full of it, plus some oil and salt mixed in. Next, we poured a lot of oil and gave the zucchini a massage. We got lots of salt and rubbed it more. Then, we used the bandages to wrap the zucchini up and sealed the bandages with masking tape. Then, we taped paper jewels onto the small container, holding the organs, the wrapped zucchini and put a sarcophagus image onto the top of our container. We sealed the container with all our items in it, including the organ holder, and our zucchini. After that, we had to clean up the room!
Hannah Ng
Year 7

This year we have been studying Ancient Egypt, one of my favourite things about it was when we mummified zucchinis! 
Olivia C
Year 7

This year we have been studying Ancient Egypt. We were able to mummify a zucchini. It was very fascinating, fun and disgusting, but I’m really glad our History teacher taught us the ancient process of mummification. I’m excited to see whether my zucchini mummified properly or has started rotting! 
Meredith C
Year 7