Although no writing survived from the Predynastic Period in Egypt (c. 6000 – c. 3150 BCE), scholars believe the importance of the physical body and its preservation originated there. This likely explains why people of

Embalming
The preservation of a dead body was critical if the deceased wanted a chance at acceptance into the afterlife. Within the Ancient Egyptian concept of the soul

The tomb was the housing for the deceased and served two crucial functions: the tomb provided infinite protection for the deceased to rest, as well as a place for mourners to

One of the funerary practices followed by the Egyptians was preparing properly for the afterlife. Ka, the vital force within the Ancient Egyptian concept of the soul, would not return to the

Greek historians Herodotus (5th century BC) and Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC) provide the most complete surviving evidence of how ancient Egyptians approached the

After the mummy was prepared, it would need to be re-animated, symbolically, by a priest. The opening of the mouth ceremony was conducted by a priest

After having been preserved, the mummy was placed into a coffin. Although the coffins that housed the deceased bodies were made simply of