The body was left to dry in a natron solution (a substance harvested from dry lake beds and used to absorb moisture) for up to 70 days. The cut was then stitched up and the body rinsed with wine and spices. The brain was removed through the nostrils with a hook, while the inner organs were removed through a cut in the abdomen.
In the 5th century BC, the Greek historian Herodotus of Halicarnassus described the elaborate way Egyptians preserved their dead.
