What is the difference between bog bodies and mummies?
Dr. dig responds: Mummies usually refer to the preserved corpses of ancient Egyptian peoples. The word ‘mummy’ comes from the Arabic word ‘mummiya’, which means bitumen, or tar, because the Arabs who first encountered Egyptian mummies thought they were coated and therefore preserved in this tar-like substance. Although the word was first used to describe the bandaged bodies of ancient Egyptians, the word ‘mummy’ is now used to refer to any preserved body of a person or animal that still has skin on it. If people die or are buried in the right conditions, they may be mummified (preserved) by accident. This can happen in wet, marshy places (bogs) or in the freezing cold of mountains or polar regions. Bog ‘mummies’ are bodies that have been preserved in peat bogs that occur most fequently in northern Europe and in certain places of North America and elswhere.
