Background information - Egyptian funerary belief and practice
Fill in the missing words from the vocabulary list below
The preservation of the body was an essential part __the ancient Egyptian
funerary belief and practice. Early mummification involved ___ wrapping of
specific parts of the body such as _the__ face and hands. It has been suggested
that the _______ developed to reproduce the naturally occurring desiccating
(drying) effects _of_ the hot dry sand on a body buried within __.
The best literary account of the mummification process is _____ by Herodotus,
an ancient Greek historian. He records that ___ entire process took seventy
days. The internal organs, apart __from__ the heart and kidneys, were
removed via a cut __ the left side. The organs were dried and wrapped, __and_
placed in canopic jars, or later replaced inside the ____. The brain was
removed, often through the nose, and discarded. ____ of natron or salt were
packed both inside and ___outside____ the body, and left for forty days until
all ___ moisture had been removed from the remaining body tissue. ___ body
was then cleansed with aromatic oils and resins ___ wrapped with bandages,
often household linen torn into strips. __________ analysis of mummies using
processes such as X-ray and _the_ scanning has revealed a wealth of
information about how ___________ lived and died. It has been possible to
identify ________ such as lung cancer, osteoarthritis and tuberculosis, as well
_as_ parasitic disorders.
The British Museum has on display a __body__ burial dating from about 3400
BC. The body was buried ________ in the desert sand, which completely
covered the body, _____ it out and thus preserved it. Such burials may ____
contain grave goods – objects buried near the body – such __ bowls, jars,
jewellery and flint tools.
The British Museum’s ________ coffin burials date from about 2950 BC. Here
the body ___ placed in a coffin made of wooden planks or ____ basketwork
which might be buried in the ground or ______ in a cave. Although the coffin
was intended to_______ the body from wild animals (direct sand burials
were__________ to being dug up and disturbed by wild animals), __ actually
kept the sand (which would have dried the ____ out) away from the body, thus
allowing the flesh __ rot away leaving only the skeleton.
The ancient Egyptians _____ have become aware of the problems associated
with coffin _______ through opening graves for subsequent burials as well as
_______ accidental uncovering of sand burials. Increasing understanding of the
_________ of natural preservation, coupled with the religious emphasis on ___
importance of the body in the afterlife, led to ___ development of full
mummification which involved artificially drying the ____ before placing it in
the coffin to ensure the __________ preservation of the body.
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