Sometime around 2,500 B. C. Egyptians began to mummify, or preserve, the dead bodies of kings and other important people. The practice continued for 3,000 years.

The rituals of mummy-making and burial reflected the Egyptians' belief in life after death. Egyptians believed a person had not only a body but a spirit. After death a person's spirit could go on living if it had a body in which to dwell. The body, however, had to preserve the dead person's appearance. A mummified body did just that.

Preparing mummies was a religious rite. A priest wearing a jackal-shaped mask—symbol of Anubis, god of embalming—directed the ritual. Other priests treated the body to protect it from decay. That process was called embalming. Priests drained the fluids and wrapped the corpse in cloth. Check out a mummy in the making.