Next, the brain was drawn out through the nostrils by a long needle. Then the interior of the body was cleansed, and the incision was sewed. All this happened in the first 10 days after death.
In the remaining 70 days, the body would lie in natron powder so that the humidity was all absorbed, but the skin was not blackened and hardened. Finally, the body was washed and wrapped in linen bandages. If the family could not afford the full process, the embalmers would inject oil into the body through the anus.
After a while, the oil would be released, and the dissolved internal organs would flow out. Hence, the poor had to start the afterlife without organs. Regardless of the process, the mummy was then placed in a wooden or cartonnage coffin. The relatives would pick up the coffin and take it to the tomb. Learn more about taking on the other side of history.
The coffin would be transferred to the tomb on a sled pulled by bulls. The mourners would follow, lamenting loudly both to show grief and to banish the evil spirits. Behind the mourners, there would be a shrine with the Canopic jars, for those who had them. Finally, there were the servants carrying all the items required for life after death: pottery, toiletries, shabtis , furniture, and little models. Syringes were filled with oil from the cedar tree and injected into the abdomen, dissolving the bowels and interior organs.
The body was covered with a natron treatment for 70 days, after which the cedar oil was cleaned out and the body was left as skin and bones. The body was covered with a natron treatment for 70 days before being returned to loved ones.
Egyptian mummification became a lost art around the 4th century A. But because Egyptians were masters at preserving the dead, mummies have provided us with a glimpse into the rich culture and traditions of this ancient civilization. But that's not to say corpse preservation is, well, dead. Mummification wasn't limited to Eqypt, and, in some ways, the tradition also has transcended time.
Modern-day people in Papua New Guinea still mummify the deceased. Beyond that, funeral homes in the West often embalm dead bodies to slow decomposition and allow time for ceremonies to take place.
Even anatomical laboratories are known to use techniques that preserve bodies for medical purposes and education. Register or Log In. The Magazine Shop. Two very important things were necessary for a person to "go to one's akh ," or become a blessed one who could spend a pleasant eternal life. One was passing the final judgment. The other was a well-preserved body that the person's soul could recognize and return to after the Opening of the Mouth ceremony.
The two most important divisions of the soul were the ka and the ba. The ka was the person's double; it stayed with the deceased in the tomb. The ba , portrayed as a human-headed bird, could leave the tomb during the day but needed to return to the body at night. Without the mummy, the ba and ka could not survive. To assure their continued existence in the afterlife, the ancient Egyptians worked hard to find the perfect method of preserving the body. T he corpse was then washed , wrapped in linen as many as 35 layers and soaked in resins and oils.
This gave the skin a blackened appearance resembling pitch. The term "mummification" comes from the Arabic word mummiya , which mean bitumen, a pitch substance that was first used in the preservation process during the Late Period. The family of the deceased supplied the burial linen, which was made from old bed sheets or used clothing.
I n the Middle Kingdom , it became standard practice to place a mask over the face of the deceased. The majority of these were made of cartonnage papyrus or linen coated with gesso, a type of plaster , but wood and, in the case of royal mummies , silver and gold, were also used.
The most famous mask is Tutankhamun's. T he ancient embalmers used very few tools, and once their work was completed, they sometimes left them in or near the tomb. The basic tool kit included a knife to make the abdominal incision, hooked bronze rods to extract brain matter, a wooden adze-like tool to remove internal organs, and a funnel to pour resins into the cranial cavity through the nose.
T he Egyptians mummified animals as well as humans -- everything from bulls and hawks to ichneumons and snakes. Some have been found in large quantities, while others are rare.
Many species were raised in the temples to be sacrificed to the gods. Autopsies on cats show that most had had their necks broken when they were about two years old. Cats were highly valued members of the ancient Egyptian household. They destroyed the rats and mice that would otherwise infest granaries, and assisted in hunting birds and fishing. In the nineteenth century, vast quantities of cat mummies were sent to England to be used as fertilizer.
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