Mummification
Removal of internal organs is an important process in mummification as they are the first to decay after death. During the removal, the deceased is placed on a slanted table. The removed parts and blood are collected in a bowl placed under the table.
The removal of the brain started during the New Kingdom. The embalmer inserts a hook into the brains through a hole drilled on the bone that separates the nasal cavity and the brain cavity. The brain was either being picked out piece by piece or being stirred into liquid state. Turning the body upside down spilled the liquid brain out. This rough and disgusting process tells us how unimportant the brain was to Egyptians.
After the brain, there go the internal organs. They are removed through an incision cut in the left side of the abdomen. A special salt called natron is used for preserving of stomach, intestines, livers and lungs. A four-chambered box made of wood, clay or stone is used to store these dried internal organs. The box is then put in the tomb with the mummy. In later periods, the internal organs were put separately into a container called a canopic jar. All the body parts were believed to be reunited in the afterlife and the body would become whole again. It was believed that God Isis reunited God Osiris's body parts after he was hacked into pieces by his brother Set.
The heart was sometimes left in the body, because it was thought to be responsible for thought, memory and intelligence and the mummy needed it to be judged in the next world. Otherwise, it was removed and dried with natron. It would be either put back into the body or placed beside the body inside the coffin.
After the removal process, palm wine and spices were rubbed on the body to kill bacteria. Later, the deceased was covered with natron for 40 days to remove the water from the body. The dehydrated body would be then rubbed with a mixture of cedar oil, wax natron and gum to soften the skin preventing it from cracking.
The mummy's internal organs were embalmed separately. By about 2000 B.C., they were then placed in containers called canopic jars. These little coffins had heads, either of gods or the head of person. By 1000 B.C., the wrapped organs were put back in the mummy. But canopic jars with nothing in themwere still put in the tomb.
This is a illustration of one of the mummification process - the wrapping up.