Mummification: Death Rituals In Ancient Egyptian Culture

Death rituals vary from culture to culture. One of the most iconic and controversial death rituals in history would be the art of mummification. Mummification is a death ritual most associated to Egyptians as early as AGE PERIOD. The process of mummification was a lengthy process, and reserved mostly for the wealthy upper class Egyptians, such as Pharaohs. The people that performed mummification were usually priests that had studied the human anatomy and were very respected within the communities. Before the mummification would occur, there would be a messenger who would travel the streets and announce the person had passed.
The first step in the mummification of the body is the removal of the internal organs. The brain is removed by using a special hook tool to excavate through the nostrils to reach the brain and slowly remove pieces. This was performed by a team of priests, with a chief priest leading the process. …show more content…
The chief priest would cut a slice on the left side of the body to remove the intestines, lungs, liver and stomach. After the removal of the internal organs they were then placed in special jars called canonic jars. The ancient Egyptians believed that these organs were needed in the afterlife. One internal organ that was left within the body was the heart. The heart was believed to be the center of a persons soul, thus left within the body.
The next step in the process of mummification was to erase the moisture that had been left within the body. This was one of the most, if not the most important steps in the process. This was done by adding natron, natron is a peculiar type of salt that has an extreme capacity to remove moisture. After the natron had settled within the body, the embalmers would then lightly rinse off any excess natron that had remained. After the natron had rid of all the moisture, artificial eyes were added to the body in order for it to look more human