The heart, which the Ancient Egyptians believed to be the center of emotion and intelligence, was left in the body for use in the next life. A hooked instrument was used to remove the brain through the nose. The brain was not considered to be important and was thrown away. The body and the internal organs were packed with natron salt for forty days to remove all moisture. The dried organs were wrapped in linen and placed in canopic jars.
The body was wrapped in linen bandages. About 20 layers were used and this took 15 to 20 days. The bandaged body was placed in a shroud a large sheet of cloth which was secured with linen strips. Through this process, mummies were interred into their tombs. With these "improvements", decay was hastened because the body no longer came in contact with the hot sand.
To solve this problem, the internal organs of the deceased were removed and drying agents were used to mummify the body. Canopic jars. One of Horus's four sons was represented on the lid of each jar. The human-headed Imsety looked after the liver; Hapy, a baboon, guarded the lungs; Duamutef, a jackal, protected the stomach; and Qebehsenuef, a falcon, cared for the intestines. Royal Ontario Museum. T he practice of mummification began in Egypt in B. During the Old Kingdom , it was believed that only pharaohs could attain immortality.
Around B. But since mummification was expensive, only the wealthy were able to take advantage of it. Although mummification was not a strict requirement for resurrection in the next world, it was certainly regarded as a highly desirable means of attaining it. The prayers in the Book of the Dead were intended to help the deceased make a successful transition to the afterlife. T he art of mummification was perfected in the Third Intermediate Period B.
Late Period , the Greek historian Herodotus documented the process:. Next, the flank is slit open. The cavity is then thoroughly cleansed and washed out. Then it is filled with pure crushed myrrh, cassia, and all other aromatic substances, except frankincense. When this period. N atron, a disinfectant and desiccating agent, was the main ingredient used in the mummification process. A compound of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate salt and baking soda , natron essentially dried out the corpse.
Obtained from dried-up river beds, it was packed around and inside the body in linen bags, and left for 35 to 40 days to draw moisture out of the tissues. The poison also made the body an unsavory future host for corpse-eating bugs. When the time was right, the monks were buried alive to await death and mummification.
Death came quickly, but self-mummification seldom worked. No matter how a body was mummified, the end game was the preservation of as much skin tissue as possible—and the priests of ancient Egypt are considered the experts on the process.
According to Egyptologist Salima Ikram, some corpses were simply filled with juniper oil to dissolve organs before burial. The mummies of pharaohs were placed in ornate stone coffins called sarcophaguses. Some pharaohs were even buried with pets and servants. According to a abstract published in Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine , medicinal preparations made from powdered mummies were popular between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries.
The interest in mummies as medicine was based on the supposed medicinal properties of bitumen, a type of asphalt from the Dead Sea. It was thought mummies were embalmed with bitumen, but that was rarely the case; most were embalmed with resins. Perhaps the best-known mummy in modern history is King Tutankhamun , commonly known as King Tut. His tomb and mummified body were discovered in by British archaeologist Howard Carter.
It was an exhilarating find yet destined to be overshadowed by several unexplained deaths. The most effective way to send them to a permanent demise is to set them on fire. That may change as Hollywood releases new mummy movies with spine-chilling storylines and unnerving special effects. Central Rappahannock Regional Library. Science Museum, London. Mummy as a Drug. The Afterlife in Ancient Egypt.
Accidental mummies: Mexican villagers are preserved. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!
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