The Process of Mummification
The whole process of mummification takes about 70 days to finish. There are five steps to mummify a person. To complete the task several embalmers work together. Embalmers are people who treat preservatives in order to prevent decay. The head embalmer wears a jackal mask. He represents Anubis, the god of mummification.
Before they can do anything, the embalmers have to remove every organ inside the person’s body except the heart. They left the heart in the body because they believed that the heart was full of intelligence and emotion. Once the organs were removed from the body, the embalmers also mummified it and put in the jars. They placed the jars beside the tomb at the time of the burial. To the Egyptians, they believed that the brain was useless. They removed the brain by scooping it out through the nose with a wire. Finally, they used sweet, oil-scented linen to clean out the mouth.
Once the inside of the body was clean and emptied, they packed and covered the body with natron. Natron is a salty drying agent. They left the body like that to dry. Between 40 -50 days, all the liquid in the person’s body would have been absorbed. The only thing left in and on the body would be the hair, skin and bones.
The hallow space in the body was then filled with resin, sawdust or linen. They stuffed the body so the body would remain the same shape as it was before. The embalmers put onions or painted white rocks in the eye socket, and beeswax in the nostrils. Inside the body where the organs used to be, they filled it up with spices and herbs. Once they body was all filled up, the embalmers finally closed it.
Finally, the body was wrapped securely with many layers of linen. In between each layer, the embalmers placed jewellery and amulets. Over the heart, the embalmers placed a scarab beetle. At each layer of wrapping, a priest chanted spells and prayers.
Once the embalmers finished wrapping the dead Egyptian, they placed the person into a burial sheet called a Shroud. Then they finally placed it in a coffin made out of stone called a sarcophagus.
