How the Egyptians Made Mummies

With Halloween right around the corner many kids are at this very moment thinking about what they want to dress up as for Halloween. Some will choose classics like Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, or the slow moving mummy. The ancient Egyptians made the art of mummification famous. Here's how they did it.

After a person's death their bodies would be washed and brought to the Per-Nefer where all of their vital organs (minus the heart) would be removed. All of the abdominal organs would be removed by making slits into the sides of the body. The lungs and brain would also be removed. To remove the lungs the Egyptians would cut open the deceased chest and take out the organ. To remove the brain the Egyptians would insert a long rod with a hook on the end into the nasal passage way. Once in the skull they would pull the brain out using the long iron rod.

After all the necessary organs were removed they would be put into canopic jars and placed into the deceased's tomb. The skull would be washed out with water along with the chest cavity. The Egyptians would then fill the body with various items so as to keep the shape of the person intact.

Next the drying process of mummification would begin. To dry the body the Egyptians would cover the body with a special powder. This powder consisted of several different sodium compounds. The body would be left for a month so that it could dry completely and properly. After the body was dried out it was moved to the Wabet to be wrapped.

Once the body was in the Wabet the Egyptians would remove the previous items from the body's chest cavity and fill it back up with more of the sodium compound and resin soaked linen. Next the Egyptians would wrap the body in a shroud and then start to wrap the linen around the deceased. Quite often the Egyptian embalmers would place amulets on the body to ward off evil spirits and to help the deceased pass over into the afterworld. The hands and feet would be wrapped first. The hands, feet, head, torso etcetera would all be wrapped individually. Once all body parts were wrapped the Egyptians would go back and do a final wrap, wrapping the entire body as a whole with resin soaked linen. The reason they used resin is because it acted as a binding agent so that the linen strips wouldn't come indone.

Once the body was wrapped depending on how wealthy the person was there would be a special mask that was placed over the head. The mummy would then be placed in a suhet otherwise known in modern times as a coffin.