The Sarcophagus - A Step-By-Step Guide To Egyptian Mummification For Kids - Part 10 of 12
Welcome to the next part of our Step-By-Step Guide To Egyptian Mummification For Kids. You can find out what's happened so far in our Mummification journey, here.
I know what you’re thinking. Part 10? I mean! Part 10? Just when you thought the process of embalming the dead Pharaoh (I know, I know, very upsetting, lots of tears) was over, I turn up with a pooping part 10!
Well, yes, the icky gross bits of clearing out the Pharaoh’s insides are done. And the mind-boggling bits of making sure you squish the organs into the correct Canopic Jars are done. And, luckily, the long and tedious bits of wrapping the whole body repeatedly with linen bandages are done.
But we can’t just leave the Pharaoh’s body on a table in the embalming room forever now can we? For starters it would just get in the way. And the tomb designers have been working so hard making a gorgeous looking tomb for the Pharaoh. They’ve decorated all the walls with pictures and everything! It would be a shame for the body to not end up in there really.
So here we go…
Step 10 - The Sarcophagus
Coffins, coffins, coffins
Next, we need all the coffins, because one just isn’t enough for an Egyptian Pharaoh. I mean, Tutankhamun had three coffins AND a sarcophagus (that’s a big stone box).
It’s a bit of a Russian Doll situation. You know, start with the mummified body, covered in a linen death shroud painted to look like the Pharaoh, and pop it into the smallest coffin. Then put that small coffin in a medium sized coffin. Then put the medium sized coffin in a large coffin. The put the whole thing in an enormous stone Sarcophagus.
Carvings and Painting
Each of the coffins will need to be covered in intricate carvings, paintings and designs. It would also be nice if the coffins were shaped to look like the Pharaoh themselves (that is, if the Pharaoh were a big empty person-box!). And if we’re going full Tutankhamun style, we want the smallest coffin to be entirely made out of gold.
Plus, we’ll need hieroglyphs. So many hieroglyphs. Just carve them everywhere! On the inside of the coffins. On the outside of the coffins. On a giant block of cheese. I mean it. Carve them everywhere.
But don’t worry, most of this coffin design work will be done by a team of elite craftspeople and artists. You just need to turn up at the end and help them to slide the Pharaoh’s coffin-in-a-coffin-in-a-coffin-in-a-sarcophagus into the tomb. Just take care to bend your knees when lifting those heavy coffins. There’s no such thing as Ancient Egyptian A&E if you throw your back out.
I think it's time we pop this stinky corpse into a tomb, seal it up and forget about it, don't you? Luckily, that's the next step:
