A CT Scan image of a Mummy
The famous Greek historian Herodotus reported on the Egyptian practice of mummification:
The mode of embalming, according to the most perfect process,
is the following:- They take first a crooked piece of iron, and with it
draw out the brain through the nostrils, thus getting rid of a portion,
while the skull is cleared of the rest by rinsing with drugs; next they
make a cut along the flank with a sharp Ethiopian stone, and take out the
whole contents of the abdomen, which they then cleanse, washing it thoroughly
with palm wine, and again frequently with an infusion of pounded aromatics.
After this they fill the cavity with the purest bruised myrrh, with cassia,
and every other sort of spicery except frankincense, and sew up the opening.
Then the body is placed in natrum for seventy days, and covered entirely
over. After the expiration of that space of time, which must not be exceeded,
the body is washed, and wrapped round, from head to foot, with bandages
of fine linen cloth, smeared over with gum, which is used generally by
the Egyptians in the place of glue, and in this state it is given back
to the relations, who enclose it in a wooden case which they have had made
for the purpose, shaped into the figure of a man. Then fastening the case,
they place it in a sepulchral chamber, upright against the wall. Such is
the most costly way of embalming the dead.
If persons wish to avoid expense, and choose the
second process, the following is the method pursued:- Syringes are filled
with oil made from the cedar-tree, which is then, without any incision
or disembowelling, injected into the abdomen. The passage by which it might
be likely to return is stopped, and the body laid in natrum the prescribed
number of days. At the end of the time the cedar-oil is allowed to make
its escape; and such is its power that it brings with it the whole stomach
and intestines in a liquid state. The natrum meanwhile has dissolved the
flesh, and so nothing is left of the dead body but the skin and the bones.
It is returned in this condition to the relatives, without any further
trouble being bestowed upon it.
The third method of embalming, which is practised
in the case of the poorer classes, is to clear out the intestines with
a clyster, and let the body lie in natrum the seventy days, after which
it is at once given to those who come to fetch it away.
Link to 3-D Reconstruction of an Egyptian Mummy