Mummification

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- Stephanie Wilt

The Egyptian Art of Mummification: First they draw out the brains through the nostrils with an iron hook. With a sharp Ethiopian stone they make an incision in the side, and take out all the bowels Having filled the belly with pure myrrh pounded, and cassia, and other perfumes, frankincense excepted, they sew it up again They steep it in natron, leaving it under for seventy days At the expiration of the seventy days they wash the corpse, and wrap the whole body in bandages of flaxen cloth, smearing it with gum

Herodotus describes-salting the body with natron and embalming it with resins-was thought to have reached its peak around 1200 b.c., during the era known as the New Kingdom, to which the best-preserved mummies date.

Now a detailed chemical analysis of a 4,150-year-old skeleton from Egypt's Old Kingdom is providing clues to the origin of ancient Egyptian embalming techniques.

New study shows that before the ancient Egyptians perfected the art of mummifying flesh, they apparently learned to preserve skeletons, which will crumble and decay if not treated