Mummification Overview

The development of Mummification began around 3500 BCE. Mummification was believed to help someone reach the afterlife. Most commonly Pharaohs were mummified but civilians could also be mummified. The process for a Pharaohs mummification was very elaborate and time consuming. Organs were surgically removed for the Pharaohs before the body was deprived of all moisture. The organs that were removed included the lungs, heart, intestines, liver, and stomach. The brain was also removed, a hook was inserted through the nasal cavity and the brain was removed in small chunks and pieces. The Pharaohs body was deprived of moisture due to being covered and filled with a type of salt called natron. The heart was returned to the body before being wrapped in multiple layers of linen. The linen was changed multiple times before burial. Pharaohs are buried underneath a pyramid in large and elaborately decorated tombs. The process for Mummification of civilians was not very elaborate. Civilians were filled with juniper oil to dissolve all internal organs so they did not decay, once the organs were dissolved they were buried. Ancient Egyptians were not the first and only civilization to practice Mummification. The Chinchorro people of modern day Chile practiced Mummification almost two thousand years before the Egyptians.