Places with traditions of mummification have dry climates in which bodies may mummify naturally, so it's not something the people just came up with out of nowhere.
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Also, people were very influenced by religion and superstition. They may have interpreted mummified bodies as some connection to gods/goddesses. They in turn took up mummification based on this understanding, not because it seemed cool.
This
@dukethorion@lemmy.world I really don't know, so this is just idle speculation, but I wonder if seeing bodies come out of the sand all fucked up made people want to be preserved, but with dignity, rather than be a desiccated corpse, lost in the sand or rotting