All over the world, in every culture, human beings seek to prolong their existence on this earth. Today, we use manufactured chemicals to preserve flesh so that it can be seen by the living. Thousands of years ago, humans spent days carefully dissecting, preserving, clothing and arranging a corpse in order to retain the vessel and send the soul on its journey into the afterlife. Each place had its own set of standards for their mummies, but all were able to suck the life and moisture out of our skins and flesh to leave a brittle yet enduring casket for their descendants, millenia down the line. Mummies are a glimpse into the way our ancestors lived and looked, and are a reminder of the body death that awaits us all, terrifying but majestic. After the jump, a collection of preserved bodies awaits you…