Genesis 50:1-26

The Burial of Jacob, and Death of Joseph

2. For the importance attached by the Egyptians to the preservation of the corpse see on Genesis 40:19. The process, which was so thorough that mummies of Joseph's time may be seen in our museums in a state of good preservation, was briefly as follows. The brain and intestines were removed, and the stomach cleansed and filled with spices (embalmed). The body was then steeped in a mixture of salt and soda (called natron), for forty or more days, to preserve it from decay. Next, it was bound up in strips of linen smeared with a sort of gum; and finally it was placed in a wooden case, shaped like the human body, and deposited in a sepulchral chamber.