Burial Practices
Mummification was the process of removing a person's organs and storing them in canopic jars. This is a long process reserved for the rich in Egypt. While the tomb workers had spare time, they often worked on their own tombs for their afterlife. These were built on the cliff of the western side of the village. These tombs were nowhere near as elaborate as the Pharaoh's tombs, despite having small features in common. They were much smaller and they did not include funerary texts such as Amuduat, which was a painting that showed the journey of a pharaoh's death to their journey of becoming a god. Amuduat was for royals only, as it was the Egyptians view that only pharaoh's became gods in the afterlife.
The book of the dead was an important part of burial customs for ancient Egyptians. To the Egyptians, the book of the dead meant 'coming forth by day'. The book of the dead was written on papyrus is made up of a collection of chapters that includes various spells and formulas. When these 'funerary chapters' started to emerge in Egyptian tombs, it was thought that they were an Egyptians guide to a good afterlife. The purpose behind these chapters was that the deceased would read them on their journey to the afterlife and make sure that they would not lose their way on the journey. Once a person died, they received a funeral. This was started by a group of mourners that stayed with the mummy as it crossed the Nile River. When the mummy had made it to the west bank, it was dragged to its tomb by a group of oxen. All this time it was the priests job to walk in front of the mummy and burn incense, while sprinkling milk. Behind the mummy in a sled, the canopic jars that contained the viscera of the deceased was being dragged. When the mummy reached the entrance of the tomb, the priest would touch the ears, mouth and eyes. This was supposed to restore all of its faculties and bodily functions that would then be used in the afterlife. The mummy was then placed in its coffin where it was surrounded by food offerings. The tomb was then sealed.
Afterlife Beliefs
Most villagers believed in life after death and that every person had one body and five spiritual elements. The Khet was powered by the Ka, which looked exactly like the body. Death occurred when the Ka left the Khet. The dead were given the life after death if they were judged by Osiris to have been good on earth. This journey was very lonely and dangerous. For protection, special magic spells were selected from The Book of the Dead to keep demons and other threats away. ‘Osiris… Great is the awe of him in the hearts of men, spirits and the dead… and many are his shapes in the Pure Place.’ (Book of the Dead, Spell 185).