A canopic jar is a funerary jar containing human organs extracted during the process of mummification; the stoppers of the jars took the shape of the heads of the four sons of the god Horus, who are the patrons of the liver, lungs, stomach and intestine.
Discover one of the mysteries of Egypt; the mummification. Learn how wrapping techniques, body cavity filling material, and other methods of preserving the appearance of the body changed over time. View the canopic jars in which the internal organs of the deceased were preserved, beside the charming small statuettes that were placed next to the mummy to protect it in the afterlife.
The Egyptians were not preoccupied with death, but they did spend much time preparing for the time when their life on this earth would cease and they would enter the afterlife. Therefore, the ancient Egyptians developed the process of mummification to keep the body in a good state and to preserve its physical features so that the soul might identify it, for the destruction of the body would have meant also the decay of the soul.
