234 Murphy, William Parry
During the 21st dynasty (1085 to 945 B.C.E.) embalmers
began wrapping the internal organs with long strips of linen
and then replacing them back into the body as “visceral
packages.” This may have been done to dissuade grave
robbers from opening or destroying canopic jars in search
for jewels and treasures. With this technique there was no
need for a canopic jar, and imitation one-piece canopic jars
were sometimes placed in the tombs.
The dehydrating agent used in mummification was
natron, a naturally occurring salt composed of sodium car-
bonate, sodium bicarbonate, and sodium chloride (table
salt). The two chief sources of natron in ancient Egypt were
El Kab, a city in Upper Egypt, and the Wadi Natrun, an area
just outside Cairo. In Arabic the word wadimeans “dry river
bed.” The chemical symbol for sodium, Na, is derived from
the word natron.
The body was placed on a slanted embalming table and
completely covered with natron. A groove in the dependent
end of the table allowed the fluids to drain off. The human
body is about 70 percent water, and during mummification
there is considerable loss of weight due to loss of water. It
was very likely that embalming took place outside in a tent,
which allowed better ventilation. Anubis, the jackal-headed
god of embalming, is often referred to as being “in his tent.”Once the body was dehydrated, the abdominal and
chest cavities were then washed with palm oil and aromatic
spices. The abdominal incision site was sewn together, and
a metallic amulet, inscribed with the sacred eye of the god
Horus, was placed over the incision. The body was then
covered with a mixture of cedar oil and spices. A protective
coating of dark-colored resin was poured over the body as
a sealant to prevent moisture from entering the body. The
body was anointed with oil mixed with spices and perfumes.
Finally the corpse was wrapped in numerous turns of linen
bandages. Laid out end-to-end, the linen would measure
hundreds of yards long.
At the time of burial the body was adorned with gold,
jewels, and amulets. The amulets were prescribed by the
Book of the Dead and were supposed to aid the deceased
on his journey to the underworld. These valuable objects,
which were placed beneath the wrappings, would become
the targets of grave robbers over the ensuing centuries.
The coating resin imparted a dark color to the skin
of the mummies. Foreign travelers to Egypt mistakenly
assumed that the blackened, solidified resin covering the
mummies was bitumen, the mineral formed from pitch. Since
the major source of bitumen was a mountain in Persia
(Iran), where the substance was called “mummia,” these
embalmed bodies eventually became known as “mummies.”
The process of mummification has been studied for
centuries. Visual inspection necessitates that the mummy
be unwrapped from its burial cloth. Anatomic dissection of
a mummy results in the irrevocable destruction of the
“intact body” and violates the ancient Egyptians’ desire to
remain whole in the hereafter. With the advent of the X ray,
mummies could be studied without destroying or even dis-
turbing them. The first published radiograph of mummified
remains appeared in 1898, only three years after the discov-
ery of the X ray by Wilhelm Konrad Röntgen in 1895. Other
reports followed.
With the invention of computed tomography (CT) in
1972, a much more powerful nondestructive tool became
available to scientists and Egyptologists interested in study-
ing human and animal mummies.
CT provides excellent detail of the inside of a mummy.
Acollaborative project performed between the author and
the Albany Institute of History and Art (AIHA) in Albany,
New York, in November 1988, involved the plain film and CT
analysis of two ancient human Egyptian mummies. Both
mummies have been part of AIHA’s Egyptian collection
since their purchase from the Cairo Museum in 1909. The
mummies came from the ancient community of Thebes on
the upper Nile, and they lived during the 21st Egyptian
dynasty, which was from 1085 to 945 B.C.E.Egyptian Mummies:
Brief History and Radiological Studies
(continued)This female mummy at the Albany Institute of History and
Art has never been unwrapped and has only been “seen”
by X ray and CT. Once believed to be a male priest, the 1988
X-ray and CT studies performed by Dr. Wagle proved it to
be the body of a female. She is five feet tall.(Courtesy of
William Wagle, M.D.)