What it is, why it was done, and how they did it in ancient Egypt
In ancient Egypt, mummification was the preparation of the body for the afterlife. It was believed that the soul of the deceased would be preserved forever and that the person would be able live in the afterlife. Mummification was a ritual that took many days and consisted of many different steps to complete the task.
Because they believed that there was a guardian deity for each organ, they would remove all the organs from the person preserve them and then place them in "canopic jars". The first organ that was removed was usually the brain. A long hook like object that was inserted through the nose would be used to remove the brain. They would then extract the brain piece by piece until all was removed.
Next, a large incision would be made in the torso and all the internal organs with the exception of the heart would be removed. The heart was always kept with the body for their religious reasons. After removing all the internal organs the body was then preserved with different oils and preservatives along with a solution called "natron" and other extracts. This process took a few weeks. The purpose for this was to totally dehydrate the body. They would also stuff the inside of the body with shredded cloth and sawdust. This would speed up the dehydration process. Once the body was completely preserved they would then proceed to wrap the body in cloth that had been soaked in the preservatives. If the body looked too misshapen from the process, they would use cloths, mud and sawdust to add fullness back to the body. Sometimes an animal such as a dog or jackal would steal an arm or leg off the corpse. When this happened they would replace it with a fake leg if they couldn't recover the missing appendage. All things that came in contact with the organs, body fluids or even the body itself would be preserved and kept with the body.
After the mummification process was finished, the body was then placed in a burial coffin. There was usually a funeral mask placed over the head of the mummy. This mask was usually made to look like the person did while alive. For those who were not important people, they were typically put in a small tomb. For pharaohs and other royalty, there were giant pyramids that were the final resting place for the mummy.
Because they believed that mummification was the preparation for the afterlife, they usually made sure that the person would have everything they needed for a happy afterlife. Because of this pharaoh's were typically buried with all their treasures.
Some of these crypts and tombs were believed to be cursed, but what it really was is that to protect the tomb from grave robbers, there would be a series of traps that included the release of deadly diseases into the air. People would become ill after going inside a pyramid to rob it, and then people would believe it was because they were cursed.
