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Mummies and Mummification: Late Period,
Ptolemaic, Roman and Christian Period

In the later periods the viscera packets previously placed inside the body were now often again placed inside stone canopic jars (Late Period) or tall wooden canopic chests (Ptolemaic Period). In the Ptolemaic Period the mummification became more widespread. The viscera remained in the bodies or the body was filled with packets of resin soaked linen, mud, broken pottery molten resin or with bitumen.

In the Roman period the mummification saw a further decline. The bodies are often only badly preserved, and therefore it is often not possible to say whether the brain or the viscera were removed. More care was applied to the mummy wrappings, which were more elaborate than ever before; rhomboidal patterns of bandages built up in several layers are found for both human and animal/bird bodies.

Bodies were still being embalmed in the Byzantine period. The body may have been treated with natron, as before, but now daily life dress replaced the mummy bandages. Mummification came to an end with the Arabic conquest.

leg
a mummy head with a cap

Mummification in:

Old Kingdom | Middle Kingdom | New Kingdom | Third Intermediate Period | Late Period to Coptic Period


 

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