mummification

Mummification

The ancient Egyptians believed they would live again when they died. They thought if they had been good, they would live forever in the afterlife called the Field of Reeds. In order to live again, they needed their bodies so they mummified their bodies. Mummification was a hard process. It took 70 days to mummify a body. The embalmers had to follow these steps.

1. First the embalmers took a hook-like instrument and put it up the person's nose. They used the hook to pull out the brain, piece by piece.
2. Then the embalmers sliced the skin of the stomach open so they could remove the organs.
3. The embalmers took the liver, lungs, stomach, and intestines out and put those organs into canopic jars.
4. Next, the embalmers took the heart out of the body, washed the heart, and put the heart back into the body.
5. After that, the embalmers put linen cloth inside the empty body and covered the entire body in natron (salt) for forty days to dry the body out.
6. When forty days had gone by, the embalmers removed the natron and took the old linen cloth out. Then they put in new linen cloth and stitched up the cut.
7. After that, oils and gum was rubbed on the body to soften it. Then the embalmers put jewelry on the body and an amulet over the cut so bad spirits wouldn't go inside the body.
8. The body was wrapped in many layers of linen bandages and charms were put in between the layers.
9. A mask made from gold that looked like the dead person was put on the wrapped mummy. The wrapped mummy and mask were placed in a human-shaped coffin made out of gold or wood.
10. Next they painted magic spells on the rectangular sarcophagus to keep the evil spirits away. Then the wrapped mummy was placed inside the sarcophagus.
11. Finally the mummy, coffins, and sarcophagus were put on a sled and dragged across the sand to the tomb for burial.