The Mummification Process

The ancient Egyptians developed a sophisticated method to preserve a dead body for the afterlife: mummification. First, the internal organs were removed and all moisture from the body was eliminated. Next, the body was wrapped with long strips of linen, and then covered with a large linen cloth. Follow the steps of the mummification process in this short animation about the Getty Museum's Romano-Egyptian mummy Herakleides.

Modern Egyptology is in general perceived as beginning in the year 1822, when Jean-François Champollion announced his universal decipherement of the system of Egyptian hieroglyphics for the first time, employing the Rosetta Stone as his most important aid. With subsequently ever-increasing knowledge of Egyptian writing plus language, the study of Ancient Egyptian civilization was able to continue with greater academic rigor and with all the added impetus that understanding of the written sources was able to engender.