Getting a body ready for eternal life takes time. Priests and embalmers during the 18th Dynasty
(c. 1550-1319 B.C.) generally spent 70 days preparing a pharaoh for burial—from the first
cleansing of the corpse through the final rites before the tomb. Of course, the bodies of the
poor didn't get such royal treatment, and techniques of mummification varied over the 3,000
years it was practiced. In this audio slide show, Egyptologist Salima Ikram, one of the world's
foremost experts on mummification, guides us through the steps of a "classic" mummification like
those performed on 18th-Dynasty pharaohs. To launch the audio slide show, click on the image at
left.—Susan K. Lewis and David Levin
