Mummification was one of the most substantial procedures in ancient Egypt due to being relevant to the afterlife and its essential rituals. Let us try to unravel some of the amazing facts of embalming the body of the deceased in different times.
Predynastric and early dynastic
The method of encircling the limbs and digits with layers of fine linen which was impregnated with resin became the standard practice in the early dynastic and old kingdom. At Saqqara, the body of a woman dating from the second dynasty with sixteen layers of broad linen bandages was found. Also, a body prepared in this way was found by digging the same necropolis later with the fingers wrapped separately and the breasts and genitals moulded. In this early period the body was still in a semi - flexed position. Within these carefully applied linen bandages there was no tissue left , and often its decomposition had charred the inner surface of the textile , which was then in direct contact with the bones . The aim of the Egyptians at this stage was to create an acceptable resemblance to the living body, and the process employed cannot truly be called embalming.
Old kingdom
In the fourth dynasty the next stage in the development towards mummification of the body involved the evisceration of the corpse to inhibit the process of decomposition. In a tomb at Meydum in 1890 Petrie discovered the extended body of a noble called Ranefer whose body had been eviscerated and the internal organs were wrapped in resin – soaked linen and placed in a recess in the wall of burial chamber.
Prepared bodies dating to the fifth dynasty are slightly more frequent than those known from preceding periods. From the fourth dynasty, the bodies of the royal family and nobles were interred in an extended position in wooden coffins with fine stone sarcophagi, frequently decorated on the outside with palace façade paneling.
Petrie has pioneered the use of X-rays in 1898 as a non destructive technique to study mummified remains. At Deshasheh he discovered fifth dynasty burials which showed signs of dismemberment, or at least subsequent rewrapping in which the bones had been misplaced. He used an X-ray to record the proof that the wrapped foot has the bones out of order, and that the leg and arm bones are wrapped together. These bones, which still have bandages around them, are preserved in his collection at University College, London.
The method of preserving the body by external wrapping and modeling in linen remained standard through the Sixth Dynasty. A male mummy was found at Giza , and this was examined by the anatomist Derry , who found that the skin had decomposed leaving only the shredded remains and had burned the inner surface of the linen . Plaster was occasionally used on the external surface of the linen to model the features, particularly the heads instead of resin.
The embalmers of this age were not able to preserve the body, but in this way they transformed it into a virtual statue which could be entered by the spirit.
It is known from Old kingdom tomb relieves, and from those of the new kingdom, that tremendous ceremony accompanied the process of mummification and burial.
Middle Kingdom
There is little evidence for mummification from the politically disunified first intermediate period, but bodies wrapped in linen, some with cartonnage masks, and canopic jars were found at Sqarra, dating to the Ninth to Eleventh Dynasities .
A group of mummies of eleventh dynasty princesses was found in rock- cut tombs at Deir el – Bahri, signifying that an improvement in technique had taken place. Their bodies were rapidly desiccated with dry natron , which is naturally occurring salt in Egypt composed of sodium carbonate (or bicarbonate) and sodium chloride ( or sulphate) . This ensured the preservation of the tissues and then the surface of the skin was coated with resin. They were not eviscerated however, and it seems from the dilated rectum and vagina that an oleo – resin (akin to turpentine) was injected into the anus in order to dissolve the organs for removal.
In the Twelfth Dynasty (from about 2000BC) the process of mummification became further elaborated and the technique approached that of the new kingdom, although significant advances in preservation had to wait until the latter period. All the organs, except for the heart, were removed from two bodies found at Saqqara , and the cavity was stuffed with linen , which was also pushed beneath the eyelids. The tissues were not well preserved, but the face of the man was coated with resin, including plugs in the nostrils, and he had a beard and moustache.
The lady Senebtisi , found at Lisht , also had her viscera removed from a flank incision , which was then sealed with a resin soaked cloth. Her heart had been packed with linen and replaced in her body, together with linen and sawdust soaked in resin. The four canopic jars , which by this time had human heads , were found in a rotted canopic chest , and only two of them had contents, all of which were in resinous masses , resembling human organs ; One perhaps the liver, another a parcel of intestines.
New kinds of funerary figurine also appeared, called shabtis, whose task it was to undertake work that might be assigned to the deceased in the underworld. In the Middle Kingdom these inscribed mummiform figures were roughly made of wood and enclosed in a wooden model coffin. In the New kingdom they became more elaborate and were made of painted wood, stone or blue faience.
Cartonnage face masks, made of waste papyrus or linen soaked in plaster with a painted or gilded surface, and placed over the head of the mummy, became fashionable in the middle kingdom. These may represent a link with the surface mouldings on the linen employed during the old kingdom. Another innovation was the introduction of the anthropoid coffin, usually fitted within the rectangular box coffin. It copied the mummy in form and further identified the deceased with Osiris. In the second intermediate period, the outer coffin was discontinued and anthropoid coffin elaborated into the rishi type with the outspread wings of the goddess Isis and Nepthys as kites protecting and mourning the dead person. In the new kingdom the anthropoid coffin became standard with painted religious scenes.
Mummification in the new kingdom
The period from the day of death to the funeral seventy days included mummification and the accompanying ceremonies
At first the body was taken to the Per - Nefer, the house of mummification, where the first stages of the process took place. The corpse was laid on the embalming table and the decomposed softened brain was teased through the nostril with a metal hook after the ethmoid bone had been broken. Then an incision was made in the left side of the abdomen by the cutter and the lower organs, except for the kidneys, were removed by the embalmer. The diaphragm was cut and all but the heart, the seat of the mind, was removed from the chest cavity. The internal organs were washed and soaked separately in natron , then treated with hot resin , bandaged , and packed in the four canopic jars.
The cavity left was cleaned, most probably with palm wine and spices, then stuffed with temporary packing material and the body was desiccated with heaps of dry natron. The toe and finger nails were secured with string to prevent loss during drying. The process up to this point probably took about forty days, and then the body was delivered to the Wabet, the house of purification, where it was washed with Nile water, a ritualized procedure to symbolize the rising of the sun from the river and the subsidence of inundation waters. Then the cranial cavity was stuffed with resin soaked linen, and the body cavity, emptied of temporary packing, was packed with linen bags of sawdust or myrrh soaked in resin, and the abdominal incision was sewn up . The surface of the body was rubbed with a mixture of cedar oil, wax, natron and gum, and then dusted with spices. The nose was plugged, and frequently pads of linen were inserted under the eyelids, although onions were sometimes used. The whole body was then coated with molten resin to close the pores and protect the surface. This resulted in the superior preservation so noticeable when compared to the tissue loss on the bodies of earlier periods. The bandaging of the body was a deliberate process over the latter part of the allotted seventy days. It seems that the embalming was over by the fifty – second day.
An enveloping shroud was wrapped around the body and then the bandaging continued. As the layered bandaging grew, amulets were placed in position as was sometimes done in the past. The head rest amulet, frequently made of hematite, was placed under the head and the udjat eye of Horus appeared as an individual amulet or on the plate placed over the embalming incision. All these amulets and others, such as the ankh sign, served a magical purpose in protecting the individual and renewing his specific strengths.
The mummy was then placed in its coffin on a sledge beneath a shrine and transported on a ferry to the west bank of the Nile where it was then drawn by oxen and men. Two women representing the goddess Isis and Nepthys, called the Great and little kites, proceeded with the sledge, accompanied by a band of mourners and priests, with libations of milk being poured before the way. All the grave goods were carried by servants at the near behind a second sledge transporting the canopic chest. At the tomb the procession was met by a group of dancers and a lector priest.
Second Intermediate and new kingdom mummies
For the second intermediate and new kingdom periods, the collection of royal mummies in the Cairo museum, Egypt, provides a wealth of information. Between 1966 and 1971 the mummies were the subject of investigations by X-ray which added more to our knowledge of the physical condition of the royal families of the eighteenth, ninteenth and twentieth dynasities.
The tomb of Tutankhamun is the best known in the Valley of the Kings and the smallest. The young king's body was not only intact within his solid gold coffin and funerary mask but also rested within two outer mummiform coffins, a sarcophagus and four golden shrines. Such lavish protection, which included 143 amulets within the bandaging, did not ensure the good preservation of the body, which had been burned by the lavish application of resinous liquid. The king was about eighteen to twenty years old when he died. His upper and lower wisdom teeth had just erupted, but his body does not show any pathological conditions which would have caused his death.
Twenty – First dynasty and later periods
The reburials provided the twenty – first dynasty restorers with the opportunity to observe the remains and they noticed that, although the new kingdom methods were excellent, they had not resulted in a totally lifelike appearance, because of the desiccation of the corpses. A change in the technique of mummification therefore resulted, with packing being placed under the skin through various slits in the torso and limbs. The surface was then often painted, with artificial eyes inserted, so that a doll like appearance was created. The packing materials were usually mixtures of linen, fat, soda, and sawdust, and changes in these substances over time have caused some of the bodies to swell. The packing within Queen Henttawi's cheeks burst open, so her painted features are no longer attractive, although her head is adorned by an elaborate coiffure of twisted black string. Al this stage , the viscera were wrapped around genii and re – inserted into the body cavity. Queen Henttawi 's embalming wound was sealed with a gold embalming plate bearing the eye of Horus .
Reference: Egyptian mummies by Barbara Adams
