Quick answer
Mummification was the ancient Egyptian method of preserving a body so the spirit could recognise and return to it in the afterlife. For the elite, the classic process took about 70 days: embalmers removed the brain and most internal organs, dried the body under natron salt for around 40 days, then anointed it with oils and resins and wrapped it in linen with protective amulets.
Why did the ancient Egyptians mummify their dead?
Because the body was the anchor for the spirit: without a recognisable body, the parts of the soul could not reunite and the person could not live forever. Egyptians believed each person had several spiritual elements, including the ka (life force) and the ba (personality, shown as a human-headed bird), which needed a home to return to. Our guide to the ancient Egyptian afterlife explains them in detail.
Myth gave the practice its model. When Seth murdered Osiris, the jackal god Anubis reassembled and wrapped his body, making Osiris the first mummy. Every later embalming re-enacted that work, and the chief embalmer played the role of Anubis.
How did mummification begin and change over time?
It began by accident in the desert and developed into a highly skilled craft over 3,000 years, peaking in the New Kingdom and the 21st Dynasty. Before about 3500 BC the dead were buried in shallow pits in hot, dry sand, which desiccated them naturally; the famous Gebelein mummies in the British Museum were preserved this way.
When elite burials moved into coffins and tomb chambers, bodies away from the sand rotted, and embalmers set out to recreate the effect. Linen soaked in resins was already being used in some burials before 3500 BC. The earliest firm evidence for removing organs is the canopic chest of Queen Hetepheres, mother of Khufu, around 2600 BC, which still held her organs in natron solution.
Technique reached its height between about 1550 and 950 BC, when embalmers packed linen and mud under the skin to restore a lifelike shape. In Roman Egypt the bodies themselves were often treated less carefully, while the outsides grew more elaborate, with intricate wrappings and the painted portraits found in the Fayoum. The practice faded as Egypt became Christian.
What were the steps of mummification?
The full elite treatment took about 70 days, and most of that time was spent drying the body in natron. The figure comes from the Greek historian Herodotus in the 5th century BC; the Book of Genesis likewise says Jacob’s embalming took 40 days and the Egyptians mourned him for 70.
- Purification: the body was washed in a tent known as the ibu, the place of purification, close to the river and away from the town.
- The brain: embalmers usually broke through the thin bone at the top of the nose and drew the brain out with a hook. It was considered unimportant and apparently discarded.
- The organs: a cut in the left side of the abdomen let them remove the liver, lungs, stomach and intestines. The heart, seat of thought and memory, was left in place because it would be needed at the judgement.
- Drying: the body was cleaned, packed with natron inside and covered with it outside for around 40 days, which drew out the moisture.
- Restoration: the cavity was stuffed with linen, sawdust or resin-soaked material, and the skin rubbed with oils, beeswax and resins to keep it supple.
- Wrapping: over about two weeks, hundreds of square metres of linen went on in layers, with amulets such as the heart scarab tucked between them while a priest recited spells.
- Burial: at the tomb door, priests performed the Opening of the Mouth, touching the mummy’s face with ritual tools so it could eat, breathe and speak again.
What were canopic jars?
Canopic jars held the four removed organs, each protected by one of the four Sons of Horus and a guardian goddess. From the New Kingdom the jar stoppers were usually carved as the heads of these gods.
| Organ | Son of Horus | Head | Guardian goddess |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liver | Imsety | Human | Isis |
| Lungs | Hapy | Baboon | Nephthys |
| Stomach | Duamutef | Jackal | Neith |
| Intestines | Qebehsenuef | Falcon | Serqet |
Tutankhamun’s organs were placed in four miniature gold coffins inside a calcite chest with four compartments. In the 21st Dynasty embalmers began wrapping the organs in packages and returning them to the body, yet families still bought solid “dummy” canopic jars because tradition demanded them.
Who was mummified, and what did it cost?
Full mummification was a luxury for the wealthy; ordinary people received simpler treatment or none at all. Herodotus describes three price levels: the elaborate method, a cheaper one in which cedar oil was injected to dissolve the organs, and a basic purge followed by natron drying.
Archaeology backs him up. An embalming workshop excavated at Saqqara in 2018, dating to the 26th Dynasty (664–525 BC), contained labelled pottery vessels. Chemical analysis published in 2023 identified the substances in them, including resins such as elemi and dammar that must have been traded from tropical Asia or Africa, and showed that the business offered different packages to suit different budgets.
Animals were mummified in far greater numbers than people: pets, sacred animals and, above all, votive offerings sold to pilgrims in the millions. Our guide to sacred animals and animal mummies covers the cat, ibis and crocodile cemeteries.
What have scientists learned from mummies?
Mummies are a medical archive: CT scanning and DNA studies have revealed ages, diseases, family links and causes of death without unwrapping a single bandage. Scans have found hardened arteries in royal mummies, parasitic diseases such as schistosomiasis, and dental abscesses that must have been agonising.
Studies have also been used to identify royal individuals and family relationships, though some of the conclusions remain debated; the pages on Tutankhamun and other pharaohs discuss individual cases. Mummies had a grimmer modern history too: from the Middle Ages, Europeans ground them up as medicine, called mumia after a word for bitumen, and in the 19th century a brown artists’ pigment was still made from them.
Where to see mummies and mummification in Egypt today
Cairo has the royal mummies and Luxor explains the process best; together they cover everything.
- National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Cairo: the Royal Mummies Hall holds the kings and queens moved from the Egyptian Museum in the Pharaohs’ Golden Parade of April 2021, including Ramesses II and Seti I, in a dim, quiet gallery. See our NMEC guide.
- Mummification Museum, Luxor: embalming tools, canopic jars, a priest’s mummy and mummified animals, laid out step by step. Our Mummification Museum guide has the details.
- Tomb of Tutankhamun, Valley of the Kings: the king’s own mummy still lies in his tomb in a climate-controlled case.
- Grand Egyptian Museum: Tutankhamun’s nested coffins, canopic chest and miniature gold coffinettes, displayed together since the museum opened in full in November 2025; see our GEM guide.
Photography rules in the mummy galleries vary and are sometimes stricter than elsewhere in the museum, so check the signs, and prepare young children before visiting.
Frequently asked questions
How long did mummification take?
About 70 days for the full elite treatment, of which roughly 40 days were spent drying the body under natron. Cheaper methods were quicker.
What happened to the brain?
It was usually removed through the nose with a hook and, as far as we can tell, discarded. The Egyptians thought the heart, not the brain, was the seat of thought, so the heart was normally left inside the body.
Were poor Egyptians mummified?
Rarely with the full process. Many ordinary people were buried in simple graves, sometimes with basic drying or a cheaper treatment, while elaborate mummification was a mark of wealth and status.
Where can I see royal mummies in Egypt?
At the Royal Mummies Hall of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo. Tutankhamun’s mummy is the exception: it remains in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings.
Is the mummy's curse real?
No. The idea was popularised by newspapers after Tutankhamun’s tomb was opened in 1922, and studies of the people involved found no unusual pattern of deaths. Our guide to the curse of Tutankhamun tells the story.
