wunder beta🏺 How Mummies Were Made
How do you turn a body into a mummy? The ancient Egyptians had a careful recipe that took about 70 days — and every single step had a reason. Follow it from start to finish: the organs tucked into spe
What you’ll learn
- Why Make a Mummy?Understand that mummification came from the Egyptian belief that a preserved body was needed for the journey to the afterlife.A mummy is a body deliberately preserved from decay. Egyptians believed death began a journey to the afterlife and that the spirit needed its body to return to, so families had embalmers preserve it — a careful process taking about 70 days.
- Taking Out the InsidesLearn that the fast-rotting organs were removed and stored in four canopic jars, while the heart was left in the body.Embalmers removed the soft organs that rot fastest, drying and storing the lungs, stomach, liver, and intestines in four canopic jars guarded by the Four Sons of Horus. The brain was removed and discarded, but the heart was left in place because Egyptians believed it held a person's mind.
- Drying in SaltUnderstand that drying the body with natron salt for about 40 days is what preserves it, because decay needs water.The key preservation step was drying. Embalmers packed the body in natron, a natural salt that draws out water, for about 40 days. With no water left, the microbes that cause decay cannot act, so the body can last for millennia.
- Wrapping and AmuletsLearn that the dried body was wrapped in many layers of linen with protective amulets, including a heart scarab.The dried body was wound in hundreds of yards of linen over many layers, sometimes glued with resin. Protective amulets were tucked between the layers, the most important being a heart scarab placed over the heart to keep it safe and honest.
- The Last JourneyUnderstand the finishing steps — mask and coffin — and the belief in the Weighing of the Heart that explains why the heart was kept.A funeral mask (like Tutankhamun's golden mask) and a painted coffin completed the mummy after about 70 days. The heart was left in the body for the Weighing of the Heart, where it was balanced against the feather of truth to judge whether the person could enter the afterlife.
Questions this course answers
Why did the ancient Egyptians work so hard to keep a body from rotting away?
The Egyptians believed death began a journey to the afterlife, and that the person needed their preserved body as a home for their spirit. Making a mummy was a caring, important act.
Why did the embalmers remove the soft organs like the stomach and lungs first?
The soft, wet organs spoil quickest. Taking them out (and keeping four safe in canopic jars) stopped them from rotting the rest of the body.
The embalmers took out the brain but almost always left the heart inside. Why keep the heart?
Egyptians believed a person thought and felt with the heart, not the brain, so the heart had to stay for the afterlife — including the important Weighing of the Heart test.
How did covering the body in natron salt for about 40 days help make a mummy?
The things that make a body rot need water. Natron pulled every drop of water out over about 40 days, leaving a bone-dry body that could last thousands of years.
In the Weighing of the Heart, what was the heart balanced against?
The heart was weighed against a single feather of truth. If it was as light as the feather, the person had lived a good, honest life and could enter the afterlife — which is why the heart was kept safe.
Grounded in trusted sources
- The Australian Museum — How were ancient Egyptians mummified?
- Herodotus, 'The Histories', Book II (5th century BC)
- British Museum — Ancient Egypt: mummification and the afterlife
- Smithsonian / Spurlock Museum — Egyptian mummification materials
Every Wunder lesson is built from real, reputable sources — never invented.
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