Egypt Pharaohs: Mummification

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The preservation of the body

Mummified body in linen wrappings in a coffin

Preservation of the body was an essential part of Ancient Egyptian funerary practice. Without the body, the "ka" could not return to find sustenance, and if the body was decayed or unrecognisable, then the ka would go hungry and the afterlife of the deceased would be jeopardised. Mummification was therefore dedicated to the prevention of decay.

It was often suggested that mummification was inspired by simple predynastic pit burials, in which the body was naturally dried and preserved by the desert sands, however it was probably more likely the desire to preserve the image of the body that actually motivated mummification. The first steps towards mummification (wrapping the body in linen) coincide with the development of tomb superstructures just after the rise of the Egyptian state. Discoveries in early elite tombs in Meidum show how dismemberment and re-composition of corpses was practiced on important people.

Embalming of the body

Mummification was not only a technical process but a ritual one, seeking to recreate the making of the first original mummy, Osiris.

		In charge of mummification was the "hery seshta" (overseer of the mysteries), who took the part of the jackal god Anubis.
		The assistant was the "hetemw netjer" (seal bearer of the god) a title which had previously been held by the priests of Osiris.
		The "hery heb" (lector priest) would read the magic spells during each ritual.
		The "wetyw" (the bandagers) undertook most of the actual evisceration (removal of the internal organs) and bandaging of the body.

The process of mummification

Shortly after death the body would be taken to a tent known as the "ibw" the place of purification. There it would be thoroughly washed in a solution of natron (a naturally occurring compound of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate) before being taken to another tent known as the "per nefer" the house of beauty. Here the actual mummification process would take place.

The viscera (internal organs) were removed and dried, rinsed, bandaged and then placed in canopic jars or parcels which were placed with the body. These canopic jars would be decorated with the images of the "four sons of Horus". From the 18th Dynasty onwards, the stoppers of canopic jars were fashioned into the forms of the heads of each of the four gods:


HAPY The baboon headed god who protected the lungs. His cardinal point was North.	IMSETY The human headed god who protected the liver. His cardinal point was South.	DUAMUTEF The jackal headed god who protected the stomach. His cardinal point was East.	QEBEHSENUEF The falcon headed god who protected the intestines. His cardinal point was West.

After the removal and preservation of the internal organs, dry natron would be moulded over the corpse and possibly also inserted into the body cavity, in order to assist desiccation. The body would be left to thoroughly dehydrate for some forty days.

Once dried out, the temporary stuffing would be removed, with any dried body parts being retained for burial, and the body cavity would be re-stuffed and packed out with bags of clean natron, resin soaked bandages and various sweet smelling aromatics. The brain cavity was filled with resin or linen, the openings in the skull packed and artificial eyes often added.

The whole body would be coated in resin, and cosmetics were sometimes added in order to give the body its final life-like appearance. Whilst the body was then completely bandaged up, amulets would be inserted between the wrappings in the appropriate places as described in the Book of the Dead. Bandaging the body would take around fifteen days.

A very important part of the outer mummy was a death mask, placed over the head to provide an idealised image of the deceased as a resurrected being. The mask played a crucial symbolic role, for it signified the elevation of the dead person to a higher plane of existence in the afterlife.

The entire process, from death to burial would take around seventy days.