Charlotte Rogers

BIOL 1090
23rd March 2016

Leonardo Exhibit

Mummies have fascinated young and old for generations. The reasons for
mummification vary from culture to culture, but in the Egyptian culture they
believed our physical bodies would be important in the next life. They buried the
bodies with amulets and sacred objects to protect the soul.
First they would remove the brain through the nose, removing all other
organs (except for the heart) through a cut in lower abdomen or through the anus.
Organs were dried in natron then wrapped and put in the body or put in canopic
jars. They would then cover the entire body in natron for 40 days (until dry) and
then stuff the body with linens, sand, and other materials. They would apply resin
and oils to the body in order to preserve skin and neutralize odor.
After this process was done, they would put a metal plate (eye of Horus
commonly) to cover the area of the organs, for protection in the afterlife. They
would wrap the body in linen bandages, placing amulets inside the wrapping. They
would place a mask (made of hardened strips of linen) over their head and feet area
and then placed in a sarcophagus.
They would place the lungs, stomach, liver, and intestines in canopic jars.
Each jar had the head of a different god on it which were there to protect your
organs. The reason they would not take the heart out of the body was they believed
that the soul was in the heart.