How Ancient Egyptian Mummification Actually Worked

Mummification was rooted in a specific belief: the soul needed a recognizable, preserved body to return to in the afterlife, so the body had to be protected from decay as completely as possible. For Egypt's elite, the full process took about 70 days. The internal organs were removed first — the liver, lungs, stomach and intestines were preserved separately in canopic jars (or, in later periods, wrapped and returned to the body), each organ protected by a different guardian deity. The heart was deliberately left in place, since it was believed to be needed for judgment in the afterlife — weighed against the feather of Ma'at, goddess of truth. The brain, considered unimportant, was removed through the nostril with a hooked tool and discarded. The body was then packed and covered in natron, a natural salt, for about 40 days to fully dry it out, before being wrapped in hundreds of meters of linen bandages, often with protective amulets placed between the layers. The results are what you see today in the Egyptian Museum and the Royal Mummies Hall — bodies preserved well enough that some retain recognizable facial features over 3,000 years later.