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Why have these mummies not decayed?

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How to Become a Mummy

Put simply, mummification is the full or partial preservation of soft tissues, accomplished by arresting the process of cell disintegration and bacterial growth that begins soon after death. The many ways to become a mummy share two characteristics: the absence of liquid water, and an environment free of, or at least hostile to, bacteria.
Natural Mummification

Freezing: Bacteria cannot survive without liquid water; keeping a body below freezing halts microbial activity.

Hermetic environments: If a burial chamber or coffin is sealed tightly enough, water and foreign microbes cannot get in, leaving the corpse largely untouched.

Desiccation: In extremely dry environments, moisture leaves the body rapidly. Without water, the bacteria that usually begin to eat away at tissues are unable to survive, and the formation of cell- and organ-destroying enzymes is halted, leaving the body intact, if a bit shriveled.

Naturally anaerobic environments: Some cultures in Europe buried bodies in nearby peat bogs; the oxygen-free environment kept microbes out as well.

Artificial Mummification
Although practices differed across cultures, most methods of artificial mummification involved removing the internal organs and replacing them with grasses or linens to re-create the body's original shape. The body was then closed up and usually treated with some sort of chemical agent. This could be a salt solution, as in the case of the Egyptians, or mercury or some other mixture. Finally, the preparers wrapped the body in cloth and placed it in a sealed coffin.

The Ultimate DIY: Self-Mummification
This rare type of mummification was practiced mostly by Buddhist monks who attempted to attain divinity by purposefully preserving their bodies. The process was long and painful, and involved surviving solely on a diet of tree bark, pine needles, nuts and berries for up to a decade. The ascetic diet of slow starvation eliminated body fat - which tends to decay faster than other types of tissue - and built up chemical compounds toxic to bacteria associated with decomposition. Just before death, the individual would bury himself alive with the help of other monks.

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Put simply, mummification is the full or partial preservation of soft tissues, accomplished by arresting the process of cell disintegration and bacterial growth that begins soon after death. The many ways to become a mummy share two characteristics: the absence of liquid water, and an environment free of, or at least hostile to, bacteria.

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Mouse Decomposition Timelapse | XO artworks

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B4.1.8 Rates of decomposition - Student Calculation sheet