Egyptian Mummification

Early Burials Beyond the strip of precious soil near the Nile River was the barren desert, so the ancient Egyptians didn't have many choices about where to grow their crops. On average, there were only six miles of good farm land along the entire length of the Egyptian Nile. This tiny zone of fertile land needed to support an entire civilization, so it had to be used wisely. This is the reason why the Egyptians chose to locate their graveyards out in the desert beyond. The earliest Egyptian graves consisted of a shallow pit in the sand, with the dead body laid inside in a curled position. Although the person was buried without clothes, some of their prized possessions- weapons, hunting supplies, and toys- were placed in the burial pit with them. The people of ancient Egypt believed that upon death, a person's soul split into several parts, and continued to live on in an afterlife. Therefore, these favorite items would still be needed. Because they were buried in the blistering hot sand under the scorching desert sun, the dead were naturally preserved by rapid drying before they could decay. When a living thing dies, bacteria breaks down the body, recycling it back to the earth. But without sufficient moisture, bacteria is unable to do its job. Instead, a mummy is born! A mummy is the body of a person or animal that has been preserved after death. Mummies are found all over the world, and were common for many ancient cultures, not just the Egyptians. Mummies can occur naturally from extreme cold, sun, smoke or peat bogs. For the ancient Egyptians, some mummies occurred naturally, those individuals who were buried in the hot dry sand. Somehow the Egyptians caught on to what was happening a few feet below the desert sand, most likely after catching jackals in the act of digging up human remains to eat. Seeing the dried bodies was great news because in some mysterious way, their dead relatives seemed to still be living! The ancient Egyptians saw these naturally-made mummies as proof of an eternal afterlife So at this point the Egyptians decided that their dead needed more dignified burials. One improvement was to pile rocks on the graves to keep the jackals out. Later, they lined the bottoms of burial pits with a carpet of straw or animal skins. A while after that, they added brick floors and walls. These early tombs were much nicer than a simple hole in the sand! All ancient Egyptians wanted to be mummified, as best as they could afford, so that they would have an afterlife.

Later Burials Dead kings and queens (and anyone else wealthy enough to afford it!) were given even better accommodations. Instead of being buried without clothes, they were wrapped in linen, which is a type of cloth made from the flax plant. To protect the body even further, the linen was coated with melted resin (a very sticky plant extract) which created a water proof, varnish-like seal around the body after it hardened. A coffin was provided as yet another layer of protection, and the dead person was placed inside it with their jewels and treasures and then buried safely away in a grave much deeper than usual. The Egyptians must have been very pleased with their handiwork. No jackals would be able to reach a body wrapped in linen, coated with resin, locked in a coffin, and buried extra deep! However, these more elaborate burials were disasters, not improvements! Since the coffin and the coating of resin and linen kept the hot dry sand away from the corpse, the bodies decayed from within instead of becoming mummified. The Egyptians probably realized this after finding graves that had been disturbed by grave robbers- thieves who would hack through the resin-hardened linen with an axe in order to steal the jewels placed on the body. All that remained inside the bandages were bones... not a mummy! Why did the Egyptians mummify their dead? The Egyptians had a huge problem. They desired elaborate burials, with linen and resin and coffins far underground- but also wanted to preserve the body as a symbol of eternal life. They figured that if the body wasn't able to live forever, neither could the parts of the soul... and that would mean no afterlife. The ancient Egyptians believed that mummifying a person’s body after death was essential to ensure a safe passage to their afterlife. An ancient Egyptian believed that their soul would not survive if their body was destroyed. It was therefore absolutely necessary to prevent the dead body from decaying, since the parts of the soul still had a need for it. An ancient Egyptian believed that their soul would not survive if their body was destroyed. The soul needed to recognize the body in order to find it. Three of the more well-known forms of the spirit were the Ba, and the Ka. It was believed that the ram-headed creator god Khnum sculpted babies and all the parts of their souls from clay. The Ba was the personality. It was shown as a bird with a human head- in particular, the head of the person to which it belonged. The Ba was mobile. On tomb walls, the Ba is usually represented as a bird hovering above the body. Even though the Ba could move around, it would always return because it remained attached sentimentally to the body. The Ka was the once living person’s exact double. The Ka retained the qualities of the person, all their positive attributes and faults. Sometimes a statue modeled after the deceased would be placed in the tomb with the mummy. These "Ka statues" were something of an emergency back-up, to make sure the Ka had a substitute body in case something should happen to the mummy. In addition to a recognizable body, the Ka also needed food to survive. When Egyptians left food and water at the tomb, they were leaving it for the Ka. Eventually, someone realized that the trick for having deep elaborate burials but still maintaining a recognizable body was to preserve the dead before burial. They experimented with different techniques and finally discovered a method of mummification that was so effective that many of their mummies are still wonderfully preserved today! Making mummies turned out to be not so complicated after all- the Egyptians simply intentionally dried the bodies first, then added the linen, resin, coffins, and deep tombs. Mummification Process The entire process of mummification took 70 days to complete, about two and a half months. Several embalmers conducted the task in the special embalming shop. The chief embalmer wore a jackal mask to represent Anubis, the god of mummification. Assistants bandaged the body and carried out other tasks of the embalming process. After being delivered to the embalming shop, the first task that needed to be done was to remove the soft, moist body parts that would cause decay. One of the embalmers would use a knife to make an incision in the left side of the abdomen. Although this step was entirely necessary to remove the organs, they didn’t like it because it was considered sinful to “injure” a corpse. The other embalmers present would curse and throw stones at the man who made the cut. They weren’t really trying to hurt him, it was all just a symbolic part of the ceremony. The stomach, intestines, liver, and lungs were removed and preserved by drying them in a special salt called natron. Natron is chemically similar to a mixture of table salt and baking soda. Originally dissolved in the ground water, it is found in clumps in an oasis or along the banks of the Nile River where it gets left behind when water evaporates. Once thoroughly dried, the organs would be put into separate containers called canopic jars. The Egyptians believed that all body parts would be magically reunited in the afterlife and the body would become whole again, just like the god Osiris. Although it didn’t get its own canopic jar, the brain was another organ that was taken out of the body. The bone that separates the nasal cavity from the brain was broken open by ramming a sharp instrument up the nose. Next, a long hook was used to stir up the brain until it was liquefied. Then the embalmers would turn the body face down to allow the brain to ooze out the nostrils. The Egyptians were so rough on the brain because they didn’t realize its importance. They thought its sole purpose was to produce snot! The heart remained in the body because it was thought to be the seat of wisdom and conscience. After all the organs were removed, the body was washed with wine and rubbed with spices. The alcohol in the wine acted as an antiseptic, helping to kill bacteria. The corpse was then covered with natron for 40 days to dry out. Once dried, the skin was shrunken, wrinkled, and leathery. The mummy was cleaned one more time and rubbed with sacred oils to soften the skin. In one Egyptian myth, the god Horus had his eye miraculously restored after losing it in a battle with the evil god Set. The Eye of Horus, called a wedjat, is associated with healing and protection. A wax or bronze plate with a wedjat carved on it was placed over the embalming incision to magically heal the gash in the afterlife. After the body was fully dried and cleaned, it was adorned with jewelry. Then it was covered in linen shrouds and bound with linen strips. During some time periods, the name of the mummy would be written on the ends of the bandages- an ancient practice that has helped modern Egyptologists identify certain mummies! When the Greeks and Romans occupied Egypt in the very late periods of its history, arranging the linen wrappings in neat geometric patterns was popular. Small magical amulets were inserted between the layers of the bandages to further protect the mummy’s spirit on its way to the afterlife. As each layer was added, it was coated with resin to hold the wrappings together with a waterproof seal. Recognition The soul needed to recognize the body in order to find it. The ancient Egyptians would paint the person’s face on the outside of the tomb, write their name on the tomb, and try to retain the physical characteristics of the person as much as possible during the mummification process. If, for example, a person’s name was etched or blotted out, or the body was removed from its final resting-place, it would destroy the possibility of an afterlife for all eternity. The Egyptians had yet another way to make sure the various forms of the spirit could recognize their own body. After the mummy was wrapped, a mask was fitted over the head and shoulders. The faces on these funeral masks resembled those of the dead, so the Ba and Ka could identify the mummy as their own. Funeral masks were made out of solid gold (like King Tut’s), wood, or cartonnage (a material similar to paper-mâché). Wooden and cartonnage masks could be painted or gilded with gold- the look of solid gold at a fraction of the price! To ensure a mummy’s safety, an Egyptian embalmer placed it in one or more coffins. Like many other Egyptian burial customs, the styles of the coffins changed subtly over the thousands of years that mummification was practiced. The earliest coffins were boxy and made of wood. Their decoration was usually very plain, with just some hieroglyphs and a pair of wedjat eyes painted at the head end. The wedjat eyes allowed the mummy to “see” into the world of the living. As time passed, the decoration became more elaborate. Images of gods, hieroglyphs that spelled out protective prayers, and pictures of amulets covered almost every square inch of these coffins. In later times, Egyptians began to make anthropoid (or mummiform) coffins. Whether you call them anthropoid or mummiform, both words mean “human shaped.” Like the funeral masks, these coffins had faces that resembled the person inside for easy recognition. Many of these were made of cartonnage because it was cheap, light, and easy to work with. Some of these were gilded with gold as well. These coffins were heavily decorated with hieroglyphs and pictures of gods and magic symbols to protect the mummy on its way to the afterlife. And for even more protection, some mummies were placed into a sarcophagus. A sarcophagus is a coffin made of stone or gold. A sarcophagus was expensive, so only pharaohs and queens, viziers, priests, and other important or wealthy people were buried in them. Like regular coffins, a sarcophagus was either rectangular or mummiform in shape. Grave goods A person's favorite possessions would be placed with them in the tomb to let the mummy be prepared for the afterlife. King Tut must have really enjoyed his afterlife- he was provided with hunting weapons, senet game boards, make-up, food, statues, sandals, clothes, models of boats, and lots more! Also placed in the tomb were small statues called shabtis. The Egyptians believed these figurines would serve as their workers in the afterlife. Hieroglyphs on the shabtis spelled out magical incantations that were supposed to make them come to life, ready for work! In the early New Kingdom, one shabti seemed to be enough to guarantee an easy afterlife. But by 1000 BC, Egyptians were being buried with 401 shabtis: one for each day of the year, plus 36 supervisor shabtis to keep the rest of them working! Spells and Ceremonies Even though The Book of the Dead was called a book, it really wasn't. The Egyptians didn't have books with covers and bound pages. The Book of the Dead was actually a collection of spells and prayers written on papyrus scrolls. Before the mummy's spirit could reach the afterlife, it had to pass through a dangerous underworld known as Duat. Monsters, giant cobras, and lakes of fire were some of the dangers found in Duat. Along with the amulets wrapped up in the mummy and the spells painted on the coffin, the spells and prayers in the Book of the Dead helped the spirit make it safely through this perilous trip. The ultimate and final test for the spirit's voyage was “The Weighing of the Heart.” This test was always shown in the Book of the Dead. It shows the Ba of the dead person watching the test, hoping to pass. Anubis stands under a scale and verifies that it's working correctly as the ibis-headed scribe god Thoth waits to record the results. The heart of the dead person is weighed against "the feather of truth," a symbol of Ma'at (the goddess of truth, justice, and order). If the heart weighs less, the spirit is free to go on to meet Osiris in the afterlife. But if the heart is heavy with sin, it is thrown to Ammut, "the devourer of the dead," who gobbles it up, denying the spirit an afterlife and causing it to cease to exist. The ancient Egyptians performed “The Opening of the Mouth” ceremony because they believed that the soul could still partake in activities that a living person could do. This ritual enabled a mummy to see, smell, breathe, hear, and eat, and thus partake of the offering foods and drinks brought to the tomb each day to sustain the Ka. Steps in Mummification . Body placed on slanted table . Remove inner organs. left side cut. Intestines, liver, stomach, lungs were removed. Heart remained- important for soul. Brain not considered important, it was removed through the nose . The four organs were preserved and wrapped, then placed in canopic jars. These organs were needed for the afterlife. Canopic jars were placed with or near the body . Natron used to dry out the body for 40 days . Body was rubbed with oil . Body is washed with wine and rubbed with spices . Body was prepared for bandaging . Left side sewn up, where organs removed . Eye of Horus then drawn on incision. Or, the Eye was a wax/bronze plate placed over the incision . Body was wrapped, with up to twenty layers of linen. Gold, jewelry and amulets were placed next to the body while it was being wrapped . Fingers and toes were wrapped individually; protective gold caps on toes . Resin was poured over wrapped mummy to seal it . Wrapped head was covered with a mummy mask . Body placed in wooden coffin. Coffin was shaped like a body in later times. The image of the deceased person was painted on the outside so the soul could find it. Then the wooden coffin was placed in a stone box called a sarcophagus. A sarcophagus was expensive, so only the wealthy or royalty could afford them. The tomb was filled with objects that were needed for a happy afterlife (food, toys, clothes, games, servants or replicas (sabtis), tools, weapons, etc.) . Body then transported to tomb. Mourners followed, some were professional mourners and were paid Four Sons of Horus

Oebehsenuef-falcon head (intestines) Hapy- baboon head (lungs)

Duamute- jackal head (stomach) Imesty- human head (liver)