Episode 25:  What Mummies Tell Us

The History of Ancient Egypt

Professor Robert Brier

Film Review

The process of mummification changed over time in ancient Egypt. Old Kingdom (2618-2181 BC) mummies were coated with plaster and painted with facial features with no attempt to preserve the bodies.* Archeologists found a sarcophagus of Hetafarus, the wife of the first pyramid builder Snefaru, under a paving stone adjacent to the Great Pyramid. Her sarcophagus was empty, as her descendants buried her mummy in the tomb of her husband Snefaru, along with a cnoptic chest divided into four sections for her internal organs (lungs, liver, kidneys and intestines).

Archeologists found a cache of pharaoh mummies (including Tuthmosis I and II, amnd Ramses the Great) in 1880 that had been disturbed during tomb robberies and ordered repaired and reburied during the 21st Dynasty. From studying these mummies, they learned that brain removal began during the 18th dynasty, with embalmers pouring molten resin into the empty skull to cauterize any remaining tissue.

In most mummies, the small incision to remove the viscera was on the left side of the abdomen to facilitate removal of the descending colon. During the 21st Dynasty, embalmers began dehydrating and replacing abominal organs with small cnopitc amulets of the sons of Horus (to protect them from grave robbers). They also began making skin incisions on mummy faces, arms and armpits and stuffing them with rags to make them look less gaunt.

*Some 16th century Vietnamese mummies were lacquered and painted.

**Once Egyptian embalmers began preserving the body itself, they would preserve the organs in separate cnoptic jars with lids carved to represent the four sons of Horus (who guarded the organs).

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/1492791/1492851