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Mummies of Ancient
Egypt:
The Process and Beyond
by Catherine C. Harris
The walls are filled with colorful etchings and
words of wisdom. Text from the three most
important books of ancient Egypt: The Book
of the Dead, The Book of the Gates, and The
Book of the Underworld, cover the walls as
far as the eye can see. The names of the wealthy pharaohs
are present on the walls of the tombs in keeping
with the belief that to speak the name of the dead
is to make them live again.
The burial process was elaborate and time
consuming. The tomb preparation began long
before death occurred. Walls were painted
with religious and life scenes, furniture
was brought in, prayers were recorded on the walls
and various objects, and food lists were made and
placed within the tomb.
Since Egyptians believed that mummification was
essential to the safe passage from the living to
the afterlife, people were, more than not,
buried in this manner. The more elaborate
burials were reserved for royalty and their
families, priests, and other high-ranking
officials. Even those people not able to afford
the most elaborate burial valued their family members
enough to give the most basic mummification.
The Process
 The actual mummification process took
approximately seventy days. The body of the
deceased was ritually cleansed and purified
to begin the journey into the afterlife. The
next stop involved removing the inner organs,
such as the liver, intestines, lungs, and stomach.
In order to dry out the organs and prevent decay
they were placed in natron, a type of salt used for
drying. The organs were wrapped in linen strips and
placed in canopic jars. The body cavity was then stuffed
with additional natron.
It's interesting to note that the embalmers
never removed the heart of the deceased. It
was believed that the heart was the center
of a person. The Egyptians considered the
heart to be a central point of being and
intelligence.
After the internal body organs were dealt with,
the embalmers removed the brain and
surrounding tissue. It's a rare person that
doesn't cringe at the details of how this
was done. The embalmer would use a special hooked
instrument. He would insert the hooked instrument
through the nostrils and pull out bits of brain
tissue. This was a delicate procedure and one that
was done with extreme care. The potential to disfigure
the face during the process of removing the brain
made this part of the mummification process extremely
important. However, the actual salvage of the
brain was not considered, as the Egyptians considered
it an unimportant part of the body.
At this point in the procedure, the deceased was
placed on a table that was elevated at one end to
allow moisture to drip away from the body. The
body was covered in natron to remove the moisture.
This allowed the body to slowly dry out and retain
much of its shape. The actual drying of the body
took approximately forty days.
After the body was sufficiently dried out, the
natron was removed and the body was washed
carefully. At this point, the body began to
look like the stereotypical mummy, shrunken
and dried out. Often, to make the body more
life-like, pieces of linen were added to sunken places
and false eyes were placed within the eye cavities.
The deceased was wrapped in linen at this point
in the procedure. Each mummy required
hundreds of yards of linen to be
sufficiently prepared for the afterlife. Each
finger and toe was wrapped individually and then the
entire hand and foot. During the process of wrapping
the mummy, good luck charms, words of wisdom, and
prayers were placed within the layers of the wrappings.
It was also common for a mask, or likeness, of
the deceased to be placed upon the mummy's face between
layers of head wrappings. Throughout this process,
the mummy was coated with resin and the wrapping
resumed. Finally, the mummy was wrapped in a shroud
or cloth.
Ceremony
 When the mummy was completed and ready for
burial, the ceremony and rituals began. The
priests would use a special instrument to
touch parts of the body to open it for the
afterlife. This ritual is called the "Opening
of the Mouth." The instrument enabled the priest
in opening the senses of the dead and, the ceremony
allowed the dead person to eat and speak in the
afterlife. The Egyptians believed that this ritual released
the Ba and Ka to travel into the next world.
The Egyptians had such a love for life that it
was important for them to continue that
enjoyment even after death. Such elaborate
burials were a part of the acceptance of
death. The Egyptians were not preoccupied
with death, but they did spend much time preparing
for the time when their life on this earth would
cease and they would enter the afterlife.
When all the rituals were complete, the mummy
was sealed within the coffin, placed in the
burial chamber, and the tomb was sealed.
The Afterlife
The Egyptians believed that the mummy housed the
soul and spirit. Their belief was often
thought of as complex and involved three
spirits. The Ka, Ba, and Akh. The Ka was the
essence of the person, like their double,
and it remained in the tomb and made use of the
offerings and objects there. The Ba was free to move
about, in or out of the tomb. The Akh traveled throughout
the Underworld and to the entrance of the Afterlife.
There are three inhabitants of the Afterlife:
the dead, the gods, and the Akh. When the
person dies the Ba and the Ka are separated
from the body, but they do not die. They are
released through ritual into the next world.
The goal in the Underworld is to live in ones
Ka, as this holds the physical resemblance to the deceased.
In order to do this, the Ba and the Ka must overcome
the dangers of the Underworld and reunite to form
the Akh. The Akh will then have made a successful transition
to the Underworld, and will live with the gods.
Those who fail to make the connection are called the
dead, and they have no hope of ever living a renewed
life.
Valley of the Kings
Some of the most preserved mummies have been
found in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.
This was the burial ground for the rich, the
pharaohs, and their family members. The
tombs are elaborate and ornate. The walls are
filled with inscriptions and paintings. The tombs were
filled with rare art, jewels, and anything the deceased
would need to live well in the Afterlife. These
tombs gained notoriety as they began to reveal the
secrets of the past.
The most famous of the Egyptian mummies is
Tutankhamen. He was the boy king of the 18th
Dynasty. He died of unknown causes as a
teenager and was mummified and entombed in
the Valley of the Kings. His tomb was
discovered intact, which was rare due to the vandals
and grave robbers that pillaged the Valley of the
Kings for 3000 years.
Undecorated Tombs
Perhaps the most interesting, yet ignored, tombs
are those that are barren of finery and wall
inscriptions. The undecorated tombs within
the Valley of the Kings make one wonder at
the people who were entombed there.
Dr. Donald P. Ryan, of Pacific Lutheran
University, is one of the foremost experts
in the study of the undecorated tombs. While
other expeditions and research teams passed
over the undecorated tombs for the more
elaborate tombs, Dr. Ryan and his research team
tackled the mysterious uninscribed tombs.
Dr. Ryan spoke about his visit to Egypt to the
Valley of the Kings. "During my first
visit to the Valley of the Kings as a
graduate student twenty years ago, I was, of
course, impressed by the large decorated royal tombs
of the New Kingdom. But I also noticed many little
shafts and holes here and there that I likewise found
intriguing. I later learned that most of these were
small uninscribed tombs that had been located by earlier
excavators, who seemed to be far more interested
in finding the larger tombs of the pharaohs.
Yet, a couple of these smaller tombs had survived
virtually intact (the tombs of Yuya and Thuya and
that of Maihepri), and the very location of such tombs
in the Valley indicates that they belonged to people
of considerable importance. I studied a series of
six of these tombs and found them fascinating. In two
of the tombs, we found three mummies whose pose of mummification
suggests that they are royal females. There
are many royal family members (especially from the
18th dynasty) whose tombs have never been identified.
Perhaps some of them are to be found where many
archaeologists have passed and millions of tourists
have walked by, in the smaller tombs of the Valley
of the Kings."
Seeing an image of an unnamed female mummy in a
small, unmarked tomb can have an effect on
even the most experienced archeologist. Dr.
Ryan related his own experience at seeing
the unmarked tombs and the inhabitants.
"I was very surprised at the fact that many
of the mummies remained in these small tombs. But,
it was clear from even the few that had survived relatively
intact, that their bodies and burials had been
brutally ransacked by ancient robbers. The Egyptians
believed that the perpetuation of one's name would
cause one to live. Through their destructive processes
in these tombs with blank walls, the thieves in
their greed have practically denied these people their
eternity. Archaeologists have a chance, at least,
of rectifying the situation by examining the surviving
burial debris and human remains to provide clues
to the identity and history of these individuals so
privileged to have been interred in the royal necropolis.
Although there has been a lot of speculation,
perhaps too much, about the identities of the
occupants in some of the tombs I have studied, it is
fair to say that unfortunately we cannot with certainty
provide specific names for these individuals at
this time. What I can say is that through our archaeological
work and conservation measures, these tombs
have been restored to some semblance of dignity and
their occupants remain peacefully within. Perhaps in
the future, we will have enough evidence to rescue them
from anonymity."
The tombs of ancient Egypt speak loudly to us
from the past. Should we take the time to
listen, we can learn, not only about the
ancient lifestyles, but also about the
intense respect the Egyptians held for their lives after
death. During your visit to Egypt, take some time
to visit the Valley of the Kings, and while you admire
the elaborate tombs, give a thought to the undecorated
tombs that hold the remains of those robbed
of their eternity.
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