aliveâfortunately, thatâs you. The other person is a man lying flat out on a stone slab, looking very, very dead.
Your head is buzzing with questionsâwho is he, whatâs he doing there, and, most of all, should you hit EJECT and head home? Just then, a man comes in and he has all the answers. He explains that youâve landed in the workshop of an Ancient Egyptian embalmer. He is the chief embalmer, and he invites you to stay and help.
His job is making the bodies of dead rich people into mummies, so that they donât rot away inside their tombs. He and his team are about to get started on this one.
Embalming
A word of warning here: Making an Egyptian mummy is not just about wrapping a few bandages around a dead body. A lot of grisly stuff goes on first. So, if youâre the sort who feels a bit queasy seeing one tiny drop of blood, youâd better toughen upâand fastâor hit EJECT. You decide to stay and the embalmer starts to give you instructions.
1. Push a long hook up the dead manâs nose. This breaks up his brain so that you can pull it out through his nose.
2. Make a slit in the side of the body and pull out the dead manâs internal organs. The embalmer asks if you are sure that you want to do this. Top time travelers are always open to new experiences, so you doâbut wish you hadnât. Intestines are long, slimy, stinky and make a lot of squelching noises on their way out.
3. Place the different organs in separate jars called canopic jarsâone for the lungs, the liver, the stomach, and the intestines.
The embalmer tells you to leave the heart in the body because the dead person needs it in the next world.
4. Now, cover the whole body with special salt called natron. Stuff small packets of natron inside the body. It will dry the body out, preserve it, and cut down on smells, too.
5. The chief embalmer tells you that the body must now be left covered in the natron for around 40 days, until it is completely dried out. After that time, it will look much thinner and darker. The embalmers will then stuff the body to make it a normal shape again, and sew up the slit you made in the side of the body. Itâs now ready for wrapping.
Get Wrapping
The workshop contains bodies that are at various stages of the mummification process. So now, you are told to get to work wrapping a body that was embalmed 40 days earlier. The chief embalmer tells you itâs precise, painstaking work. It must be done extremely neatly, because the dead man you are wrapping has a rich and powerful family who are very fussy.
You start by helping to crisscross bandages across the body, starting with the head and then individually wrapping the fingers and toes. The bandages are wrapped in layers, and some of them are decorated with prayers. Youâre as careful as you can be, but itâs tricky work and you get a little confused, so they decide to give you the job of sprinkling incense instead.
You sprinkle strong-smelling incense, such as frankincense and myrrh, between each layer of bandages. You place pieces of jewelry, called amulets, between the layers to ward off evil.
Journey To The Underworld
While they bandage, the embalmers explain that they believe the dead manâs spirit is about to go on a long journey through the underworld. At the end of it, heâll meet Osiris, who is the lord of the underworld. If Osiris thinks the man has been good, his spirit will be reunited with his body and heâll live in the afterlife.
People believe that the afterlife will be a better version of the world they live in now. So, the dead manâs family and friends do all they can to help him on his journey. They write messages and inscriptions on his coffin, and put lots of things in the tomb they think he might need in the afterlife, such as food, clothes, furniture, and even underwear. They put small figurines of his servants in his tombâthese are called Ushabtis .
Your head is buzzing with questionsâwho is he, whatâs he doing there, and, most of all, should you hit EJECT and head home? Just then, a man comes in and he has all the answers. He explains that youâve landed in the workshop of an Ancient Egyptian embalmer. He is the chief embalmer, and he invites you to stay and help.
His job is making the bodies of dead rich people into mummies, so that they donât rot away inside their tombs. He and his team are about to get started on this one.
Embalming
A word of warning here: Making an Egyptian mummy is not just about wrapping a few bandages around a dead body. A lot of grisly stuff goes on first. So, if youâre the sort who feels a bit queasy seeing one tiny drop of blood, youâd better toughen upâand fastâor hit EJECT. You decide to stay and the embalmer starts to give you instructions.
1. Push a long hook up the dead manâs nose. This breaks up his brain so that you can pull it out through his nose.
2. Make a slit in the side of the body and pull out the dead manâs internal organs. The embalmer asks if you are sure that you want to do this. Top time travelers are always open to new experiences, so you doâbut wish you hadnât. Intestines are long, slimy, stinky and make a lot of squelching noises on their way out.
3. Place the different organs in separate jars called canopic jarsâone for the lungs, the liver, the stomach, and the intestines.
The embalmer tells you to leave the heart in the body because the dead person needs it in the next world.
4. Now, cover the whole body with special salt called natron. Stuff small packets of natron inside the body. It will dry the body out, preserve it, and cut down on smells, too.
5. The chief embalmer tells you that the body must now be left covered in the natron for around 40 days, until it is completely dried out. After that time, it will look much thinner and darker. The embalmers will then stuff the body to make it a normal shape again, and sew up the slit you made in the side of the body. Itâs now ready for wrapping.
Get Wrapping
The workshop contains bodies that are at various stages of the mummification process. So now, you are told to get to work wrapping a body that was embalmed 40 days earlier. The chief embalmer tells you itâs precise, painstaking work. It must be done extremely neatly, because the dead man you are wrapping has a rich and powerful family who are very fussy.
You start by helping to crisscross bandages across the body, starting with the head and then individually wrapping the fingers and toes. The bandages are wrapped in layers, and some of them are decorated with prayers. Youâre as careful as you can be, but itâs tricky work and you get a little confused, so they decide to give you the job of sprinkling incense instead.
You sprinkle strong-smelling incense, such as frankincense and myrrh, between each layer of bandages. You place pieces of jewelry, called amulets, between the layers to ward off evil.
Journey To The Underworld
While they bandage, the embalmers explain that they believe the dead manâs spirit is about to go on a long journey through the underworld. At the end of it, heâll meet Osiris, who is the lord of the underworld. If Osiris thinks the man has been good, his spirit will be reunited with his body and heâll live in the afterlife.
People believe that the afterlife will be a better version of the world they live in now. So, the dead manâs family and friends do all they can to help him on his journey. They write messages and inscriptions on his coffin, and put lots of things in the tomb they think he might need in the afterlife, such as food, clothes, furniture, and even underwear. They put small figurines of his servants in his tombâthese are called Ushabtis .
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