15,697
edits
Changes
no edit summary
It is important to remember that the practice of mummification was carried out over period of thousands of years. The process changed throughout history and there is no one way that the Egyptians mummified their dead. Described in this article is what Egyptologists call the “classic” manner of mummification, or mummification as it was carried out in the pharaonic period.<ref>Ikram,<i>UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology</i> p. 2.</ref>
There are no written accounts of the detailed process of mummification, but texts indicate that the process took seventy days.<ref>Ikram,‘’’’UCLA <i>UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology’’’’ Egyptology</i> p. 2.</ref> The first stage of the process was the “purification of the corpse” which lasted about three days and consisted of washing the body, reciting prayers and reading from sacred texts.<ref>Hays, <i>UCLA Encyclopedia Of Egyptology</i>, p.1.</ref> The body was disinfected using palm wine or a solution of a salt called natron. Next, the internal organs were removed through an incision made in the left torso. The organs were mummified separately and the body cavities were also disinfected. The brain cavity was soaked in resin and the brain was removed via the left nostril. It is believed that the brain and organs were removed because they were prone to disintegration.<ref> “Mummification in Egypt”. <i>The British Medical Journal</i> 1.2409 (1907): 521–521. Web. 11 Nov. 2015.</ref> In some periods the mummified organs were returned to the body cavity, but the most common practice was to place them in their own separate jars, known as canopic jars, to be buried alongside the mummy.
Next the body was treated with salts inside and out in preparation for a desiccation process that took approximately thirty days.<ref>Ikram,‘’’’UCLA <i>UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology’’’’ Egyptology</i> p. 1.</ref> This process of drying the body was the most important aspect of mummification because the lack of moisture preserves the body tissues. Although the body would remain untouched while it dried, there was a great deal of ritual and prayer that took place around it. The entire process was intended to transform the deceased into the likeness of a god, much like the god of mummies and the underworld who was called Osiris.<ref>Hays,<i>UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology</i> p. 1.</ref>
After the desiccation process was complete, the body underwent a thirty day period of final preparations which included ritual, prayers, sprinkling aromatic sawdust over the body and anointing it with oils. The oils were both ritual and functional, as they likely softened the body in preparation for the delicate wrapping process, which was known to cause extremities to snap. Prayers were recited and the body was wrapped in resin-dabbed linen and incense. It was the process of wrapping which was believed to transform the body from a deceased human to a divine being.<ref>Ikram,<i>UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology</i> p. 2.</ref> Once the deceased had been properly mummified, wrapped in linen and wearing its painted mask, wig and ceremonial beard, they were no longer a human. They had assumed a godlike form and were prepared for the afterlife.<ref>Riggs,<i>UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology</i> p. 4.</ref>
