Ancient Egyptians believed in an afterlife when someone died. Mummification helped someone reach the afterlife as they thought that, in order to have an afterlife, the dead person would have to repossess his or her body. Egyptians believed that the only way to do this was if the body was recognisable.
Mummification was mainly done to wealthy people as poorer people could not afford the process. The chief embalmer was a priest wearing a mask of Anubis. Anubis was the jackal headed god of the dead. He was closely associated with mummification and embalming, hence why priests wore a mask of Anubis. This is the step-by-step process* of how mummification took place:
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