Mummification in Egypt

Abstract

AN interesting discovery, which it is thought may prove of considerable importance for the history of mummification in Egypt, is reported from Cairo. In a tomb near one of the pyramids opened by Prof. Selim Hassan, of the University of Cairo, has been found the body of a pregnant woman completely wrapped in bandages. She was the wife of Sechem Nefer, governor of a province under Chefren, the king of the Fourth Dynasty (2650 B.C.), who built the second pyramid at Gizeh. This, it is stated by the Cairo correspondent of The Times in the issue of April 21, is believed to be the oldest mummy known. In another tomb, that of Knum Baef, a son of Chefren, is a large white sarcophagus, not yet opened, upon which was found a gold necklace three feet long, with beading of carnelians, amethysts and turquoises, and ivory and gold finger sheaths. A third tomb was found to contain the mummy of a man completely wrapped in bandages with the exception of the head. The earliest date at which mummification was practised in Egypt is at present somewhat obscure. It is possible that even so far back as the First Dynasty some attempt was made to ensure preservation of the body; and in the Second Dynasty the corrosion of the linen bandages in which the bodies are wrapped has been thought to be due to a practice of smearing the corpse with natron. Similar effects have been observed in burials of the Third and Fourth Dynasties. The full process, involving removal of the internal organs of the body, appears in the Fifth Dynasty. Details of the process applied to the preservation of the body of the wife of Sechem Nefer consequently will be of the greatest interest.