A Quick Guide To Ancient Egypt Mummification
Updated: Mar 4
Egyptian Mummification can seem like a long and complicated process (not to mention messy and a bit gross!). So to make it a little more digestible, we’ve simplified it down to just five easy steps. Check them out below:
1. Cleaning the Body:
Put the Pharaoh’s body in a tent of purification called an “Ibu” and wash the body with some palm wine or water from the Nile.
2. Removing the Organs:
Remove the brain by poking a long metal hook up the Pharaoh’s nose and scraping the brain out through the nostrils.
Take the organs out of the body by making a small cut on the right side of the Pharaoh's torso. Take out the intestines, liver, lungs and stomach.
Dry out the intestines, liver, lungs and stomach and place them in the four Canopic Jars.
Make sure the heart is well preserved and placed inside the body.
3. Drying Out the Body:
Clean out the inside of the Pharaoh’s body then pack it out with rags, sand and nice smelling spices. Cover the body in Natron Salt and leave it for seventy days.
Afterwards, oil the skin of the Pharaoh’s body to stop it from flaking.
4. Wrapping the Body:
Inscribe blessings in hieroglyphs onto strips of linen to wrap the body.
Coat each linen strip in gum before wrapping it around the body. Wrap the fingers, toes, arms and legs separately before wrapping them all together.
Slot amulets between the linen strips as you wrap the Pharaoh’s body.
Coat the whole body with resin to help the linen to stick.
5. Put the Body in the Tomb:
Cover the mummified body in a linen death shroud painted to look like the Pharaoh. Put the body inside a coffin (or two, or three!) before placing the coffin(s) inside a sarcophagus.
Put the sarcophagus in the tomb alongside all of the Pharaoh’s treasures and belongings.
Before you seal up the tomb, perform the “Opening of the Mouth” ceremony by touching parts of the Pharaoh’s sarcophagus with special tools to allow them to see, hear, smell and taste in the afterlife.
So that’s Egyptian Mummification in a nutshell! If you’re intrigued and want to find out more, you can find links to our full step-by-step breakdown below:
A Fun Guide To Egyptian Mummification
Including; washing the body, removing the brain, removing the organs, packing out the body with Natron Salt.
Including; the importance of the heart, preserving the heart, preserving the organs and Canopic Jars.
Including; moisturising the body, wrapping the body in linen and adding amulets.
Including; the coffins and sarcophagus, filling the tomb and funeral rites such as the Opening of the Mouth ceremony.
If you're not much of a reader and would prefer to find out more detail through a handy video guide, we've got you covered:
Or if arts and crafts are more your thing, we have loads of fun activities for you to get creative with:
