Mummification process

When you think of a mummy what comes to mind? Most of us usually picture an Egyptian mummy wrapped in bandages and buried deep inside a pyramid. The ancient Egyptians believed that mummifying a person's body after death was essential to ensure a safe passage to the afterlife. Mummification in ancient Egypt was a very long and expensive process. From start to finish, it took about seventy days to embalm a body. First, the body …

…figures who would magically come to life and work instead of their 'master' or 'mistress' in the afterlife. Over time almost all Egyptians who could afford to became mummies when they died -- a total of about 70 million mummies in 3,000 years. By the 4th century AD, many Egyptians had become Christians and no longer believed that mummification was necessary for life after death. Eventually, the Egyptians gave up the art and science of making mummies.