#The ritual of embalming papyrus author manual
The importance of the Papyrus Louvre-Carlsberg manual in reconstructing the embalming process lies in its specification of the process being divided into intervals of four, with the embalmers actively working on the mummy every four days. According to Sofie Schiødt, this would fit well with the red linen procedure described in this manuscript. This process was repeated at four-day intervals.Īlthough this procedure has not been identified before, Egyptologists have previously examined several mummies from the same period as this manual whose faces were covered in cloth and resin. The red linen is then applied to the dead person’s face in order to encase it in a protective cocoon of fragrant and anti-bacterial matter. We get a list of ingredients for a remedy consisting largely of plant-based aromatic substances and binders that are cooked into a liquid, with which the embalmers coat a piece of red linen.
One of the exciting new pieces of information the text provides us with concerns the procedure for embalming the dead person’s face. The entire 70-day embalming process was divided into intervals of 4 days, with the mummy being finished on day 68 and then placed in the coffin, after which the final days were spent on ritual activities allowing the deceased to live on in the afterlife. The embalming of the face described in the Papyrus Louvre-Carlsberg belonged to this period. The second 35-day period was dedicated to the encasing of the deceased in bandages and aromatic substances. The natron treatment began on the fourth day of embalming after the purification of the body, the removal of the organs and the brain, and the collapsing of the eyes. The embalming, which was performed in a purpose-built workshop erected near the grave, took place over 70 days that were divided into two main periods – a 35-day drying period and a 35-day wrapping period.ĭuring the drying period, the body was treated with dry natron both inside and outside. the drying of the body with natron, have been omitted from the text, Sofie Schiødt explains. The text reads like a memory aid, so the intended readers must have been specialists who needed to be reminded of these details, such as unguent recipes and uses of various types of bandages. Many descriptions of embalming techniques that we find in this papyrus have been left out of the two later manuals, and the descriptions are extremely detailed. The manual has recently been edited by University of Copenhagen Egyptologist Sofie Schiødt:
Most secrets of the art were probably passed on orally from one embalmer to the other, Egyptologists believe, so written evidence is scarce until recently, only two texts on mummification had been identified.Įgyptologists were therefore surprised to find a short manual on embalming in a medical text that is primarily concerned with herbal medicine and swellings of the skin. In ancient Egypt, embalming was considered a sacred art, and knowledge of the process was the preserve of very few individuals. The papyrus contains new evidence of the procedure for embalming the deceased's face, where the face is covered with a piece of red linen and aromatic substances. It is the oldest surviving manual on mummification yet discovered. Based on a manual recently discovered in a 3,500-year-old medical papyrus, University of Copenhagen Egyptologist Sofie Schiødt has been able to help reconstruct the embalming process used to prepare ancient Egyptians for the afterlife.
0 kommentar(er)
