Egypt Facts: Mummification in Ancient Egypt

Mummification is a type of preservation of the dead that was most notably practiced by the Ancient Egyptians. Mummification of bodies was originally a natural process in Egypt and elsewhere, where the dryness of the sand in which the body was buried, the heat or coldness of the climate, or the absence of air in the burial helped to produce unintentional or "natural" mummies. It later became more of a ritualistic process. Mummification was practiced throughout most of early Egyptian history, and was described in the ancient Pyramid Texts. Mummification was a ritual that took many days and consisted of many different steps to complete the task.

Mummification was well-rooted in the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians. The purpose of mummification was to preserve the body for the purpose of keeping the soul, or “ka”, intact for the journey through the Afterlife. Mummification was a ritual, so the priests who participated were trained to perform the process with both surgical and ritual precision. Mummification is undoubtedly the most distinctive technique or art which developed inAncient Egypt.

Mummification remained an expensive business, well beyond most Egyptians. It was never generally available to the common classes of people, as it became an increasingly prosperous commercial venture, and it tended to indicate the decease's social status rather than any religious conviction.

Egyptians used resins, cassia, cedar oil, myrrh, cassia, and palm wine as drying or anti-microbal agents in the embalming of the mummy. When the wrapping had been completed, the shop was cleaned, and all the embalming materials that had come in contact with the mummy were placed in jars for storage in the tomb. This was a fortunate practice, as Egyptian embalmers were none too careful, and any stray toe or ear which may have become detached or mislaid during the long embalming process was usually swept up with the spilled salt and scraps of linen and included in the storage jars.

One question Egyptologists have not specifically answered is whether the rituals, which themselves were long and extensive, caused the need for the lengthy embalming process, or instead whether the rituals were extended because of the time required for mummification. In one text, called the "Ritual of Embalming", a set of instructions to the officials who perform the rites that accompany the mummification process, as well as a collection of prayers and incantations to be invoked after each rite. Anubis, the jackal-headed god who presided over embalming, did the weighing, while Thoth, the ibis-headed scribe of the gods, recorded the result on a tablet.