Artificial mummification
Momificación artificial con natrón y evisceración
- Date
- c. 2600 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Saqqara and Giza (tomb of Hetepheres), Egypt
- Credited to
- Old Kingdom Egyptian embalmers
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Removal of the viscera (preserved in canopic jars), desiccation of the body with natron over 40 days, application of resins and oils, and wrapping. Turned into a New Kingdom industry, it offers the first systematic anatomical manipulation of the human body.
Resin-residue analysis on wrappings from Mostagedda dates artificial treatments to around 4300-3500 BCE; 'classic' mummification with evisceration is from the Old Kingdom. The Chinchorro of Chile (c. 5000 BCE) mummified completely independently and earlier.
What it led to
- Practical anatomical knowledge of internal organs (though not for medical purposes)
- Applied chemistry of resins, bitumen, natron and oils, and trade in resins from the Levant
- Mass funerary industry and a specialised priestly class
- A source of present-day palaeopathological data on past diseases
Built on
- Natural desiccation in sand
- Wadi Natrun natron
- Linen (bandages)
Made possible
- Written medical and surgical treatisec. 1600 BCE
- Canopic jars
- Embalming with resin
- Descriptive anatomy (a distant precursor)