The Role Of Mummification In Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics

Experts, through the study and translation of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, have learned much about Egypt, including specific details on Egyptian medical practices. Though experts have learned much about Egypt, she is still better known for her mummification and embalming process than for her medical practices of diagnoses and treatment. The mummification process is one that includes many steps and chemicals. Within these steps, the body is opened up and organs are removed. With this in mind, one might wonder if embalmers have shared the knowledge they discovered through the mummification procedure with the doctors of that time. So what is the relationship between mummification and medical practices in Ancient Egypt? Carving the way for
Embalming has caused much interest in the scientific world and with historians, to no surprise, for it is an extremely engaging and advanced procedure. This embalming procedure, called mummification, is believed to have been first performed and coined by the Egyptians. It was performed on the deceased to prevent their bodies from decaying. Historians know about mummification due to many of the archaeological discoveries performed around the late 1800s. These quests set out to unearth the preserved bodies of Egyptians has in the process unearthed a great interest in mummification. Once the seal of time had been broken, many studies began to be conducted on what exactly the mummification process was and why the Ancient Egyptians took part in it (all paraphrasing from EGYPTIAN
The process also depended on what the client could afford. The chemicals used have been in question for some time as well. The preservation of the deceased was an important ritual meant to help the dead in their journey to the afterlife. This religious ritual included an embalming process where the embalmers would take all organs out of the body and go through a chemical process of preserving the tissue (EM). The embalmers would begin by removing the brain through the nasal cavity with a long hook (EM). Then they would make an incision on the side of the torso, under the ribs, to gain access to the organs (EM). After the incision was made they would remove the organs and put them into “canopic” jars (EM). Each of these jars had a certain god on them designated to protect the specific organ inside. Once all the organs were removed the body was flushed out with some kind of wine or spices. The body was then covered with salts mixed with crude natron and left to sit for around seventy days. At the forty day mark the body was stuffed or packed to restore its form. This packing technique was one that was of great complexity and