EGYPTIAN TOMB FINDS
In the Ancient Egypt, it was believed that the soul was returning, after leaving the body with death. Since the belief in afterlife was very widespread and deep-rooted, tomb finds constitute a large part of Egyptian artifacts that reached today. It was believed that afterlife could only be normal in case of the existence of the body. Therefore, depending on their social positions, Egyptians were buried in monumental tombs such as pyramids, mastabas and rock-cut tombs or in ordinary graves dug into sand.
In the monumental tombs, the mummy was placed into two or three nested sarcophagi. The wooden, anthropoid sarcophagi were found during excavations at Deir el-Bahri, the burial place of the city Thebes. They belong to the priests and priestesses of the temple of God Amun, the Lord of Thebes. Inner and outer surfaces of the sarcophagi were plastered with thin layers of gypsum and they were ornamented with religious texts, charmed symbols that would protect the dead in the afterlife and mythological scenes. In a sarcophagus displayed uncovered, the mummies of Bak-Na-Mut and his cat next to his feet are seen. The internal organs extracted before mummification were mummified and placed into canopic jars. The lids of these jars were the heads of the four gods guarding dead persons. The stomach was stored in the jar of falcon-headed Imseti, the lungs in the jar of baboon-headed Hapi and the liver in the jar of falcon-headed Horus.
Sometimes, the mummy was covered with bead nets, wooden pillows were placed under its head and bead baskets made of straw were placed into the tomb chamber.
