Mummification Step by Step

History · Ancient Egypt · ages 7-9

Name ______________________ Date ____________

What is a sarcophagus?
- A salt used for drying
- A decorated coffin for the mummy
- A jar that held organs
What is the last step when making a mummy?
- Place the mummy in a sarcophagus
- Wash the body
- Remove the organs
Making a mummy was all finished in one day.
Circle one: True False
What were canopic jars used to hold?
- The linen bandages
- The person's clothes
- The person's organs
What was the natron salt used for?
- To feed the priests
- To dry out the body so it wouldn't rot
- To make the coffin shiny
Which step came right before wrapping the body in linen?
- Placing the mummy in the coffin
- Drying with natron salt
- Washing the body
Which step of making a mummy took the longest?
- Washing the body
- Wrapping in linen
- Drying with natron salt
One mummy needed 4 canopic jars for its organs. How many jars were needed for two mummies?
Answer: ______________
Drying with natron took 40 days, from day 1 to day 40. Wrapping started the day after drying finished. On what day did wrapping start?
Answer: ______________
Nadia says the heart was taken out and put into a canopic jar like the other organs. What is wrong with this?
- The heart stayed in the body, not in a jar
- Nothing, Nadia is right
- The heart went into the sarcophagus

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

A decorated coffin for the mummy · A sarcophagus was the decorated coffin that the mummy was placed in at the end.
Place the mummy in a sarcophagus · The very last step was placing the wrapped mummy in a decorated coffin called a sarcophagus.
False · Making a mummy took many weeks. Just the drying step with natron salt took 40 days.
The person's organs · Organs like the lungs, stomach, liver, and intestines each went into their own canopic jar.
To dry out the body so it wouldn't rot · Natron salt pulled the water out of the body over 40 days, so it wouldn't decay.
Drying with natron salt · The body was dried with natron salt for 40 days, and only then was it wrapped in linen.
Drying with natron salt · Drying with natron salt took 40 days, much longer than any other step.
8 · Each mummy needed 4 jars, so two mummies needed 4 plus 4, which is 8 jars.
41 · Drying finished on day 40, so wrapping started the next day, day 41.
The heart stayed in the body, not in a jar · The heart was not put in a jar. It stayed inside the body because Egyptians thought it held feelings and memories.