Mummifying The Head

When a body was made into a mummy most of the insides were usually taken out and carefully preserved separately. This was not true of the brain which was often just thrown away because the Ancient Egyptians believed that it was the Heart which was where the 'soul' lived.

Many of the mummies which have survived have a lot of damage to the nose. This was because the people who were making the mummy, called Embalmers, didn't want to damage the face, so they took the brain out through the nose!!

The brain was not always removed though. Full mummification would have been very expensive, which a lot of the normal workers would not be able to afford. In certain cases the brain was left inside the skull, where it then dried and shrunk. This could produce a rather nice rattle.

It was important that when the spirit of a dead person , which was called a Ba, returned it could recognise it's own body. This was the reason for the masks placed over the head of the mummy.

This mask was found on the mummy of the famous Pharaoh Tutankhamun.