Recorded in Herodotus’s The Histories as being for those who “wish to avoid expense”, a cheaper method to the one described above was to inject cedar oil into the abdomen without disembowelment, plug the rectum, and cover the body with natron.

If you couldn’t afford the full-pharaoh experience, there was a cheaper variant of mummification… The brain was not considered to have any importance, and was disposed of. use of natron did actually occur is certain.

the fine crystals found near the mummys hand likely a residue from the natron salts used. The Egyptian afterlife: how the end of life marked the start of a challenging journey The unrolling of Egyptian mummies was a popular spectacle in.If not, the heart would be fed to the goddess Ammit, and the soul condemned to eternal restlessness. The heart would be weighed against the feather of ma'at if the heart weighed less the feather, the deceased was admitted to paradise. Embalmers would often wear masks bearing his visage during the mummification rites. The only organ returned to the body, in most eras, is the heart – on account of it being considered the seat of character and identity.Īncient Egyptians believed that the heart would be weighted by Anubis, the god of the underworld and the dead.

Illustration of canopic jars, representing the sons of Horus (Illustration by Esther Curtis) Why was the heart left within the body?

Natron salt change mummy hair color