art museum

According to Internet, “the term came from the word ‘mummiya’ which is an arabic word for bitumen or pitch. When the Arabs invaded Egypt in the 7th century AD and discovered the tombs and their contents, they thought the dark appearance of the bodies, caused by the use of dark resins during the embalming process was actually because they had been dipped in bitumen. So the word ‘mummiya’, and later mummy was used to describe them, hence mummification.”