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Course: The Metropolitan Museum of Art > Unit 2

Lesson 1: Q&A

How were mummies made in Ancient Egypt?

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How would you prepare for the afterlife? Join Asher, age 11, as he investigates the ancient Egyptian mummification process.

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lee.jared.p
Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to lee.jared.p's post “How was mummification imp...”
How was mummification important to Egyptians?
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- Angelina Q.
  Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to Angelina Q.'s post “The ancient Egyptians bel...”
  The ancient Egyptians believed that when someone died, their soul left their body. The soul would then return and be reunited with the body after it was buried.
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Video transcript

The Metropolitan Museum of Art #metkids q&a Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies How were mummies made in ancient Egypt? Asher age 11 ♪ (mysterious music) ♪ Hi, I'm Asher, and I'm 11 years old. I'm here with Isabel, she's a curator at the Met, and I'm going to ask her a few questions. I really like the Met collection, <i>it's one of the best collections in the world.</i> <i>And this is basically</i> <i>where I can enjoy my passion of ancient Egypt.</i> Can we discuss the mummification process? <i>(Isabel) Sure.</i> <i>So mummification is a process to preserve the body.</i> <i>They first clean the body,</i> <i>and then, they actually cut the body open</i> <i>to take out the internal organs.</i> They mummify the major internal organs separately, place them in little jars. <i>(Isabel) Called the Canopic jars.</i> <i>(Asher) And they were each guarded by a figure on the top of the pot.</i> <i>(Isabel) So they were the protective deities for these organs.</i> So that was the stomach. What else was it? Intestines, the lungs, and the liver. Yes. <i>(Isabel) The heart, often, they left in place.</i> <i>And then the brain.</i> <i>The ancient Egyptians did actually not know</i> <i>that the brain was so important.</i> (Asher) They took out the brain in the grossest way ever. <i>They took the stick.</i> <i>they slid it up your nose,</i> <i>and then they twirled the stick</i> around inside your head, so that all the brain got mashed up into almost a liquid. And then piece by piece, they sort of took the goo out... It sort of slid out of your nose. That's what they did, because they didn't know it was so important. Then, they let the body dry in salts. <i>(Isabel) And then they wrapped the body</i> <i>in lots of linen.</i> <i>(Asher) They sometimes put in religious amulets</i> <i>as they wrapped the body.</i> <i>Then they put on like a mask.</i> <i>(Isabel) Mummification was a way</i> to transform the body, but also to transform, <i>to transform the deceased into this other being</i> <i>that was then supposed to live on.</i> The Egyptians really valued the afterlife, <i>because it was the life that lasted forever.</i> I'm Asher, and I'm here at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. ♪ (mysterious music) ♪ What's your #metkids question? If I could pick one food to bring to the afterlife, I would pick blueberries. Blueberries. Blueberries. Blueberries. Blueberries.