Care for a person after death

Pause for a moment with the person behind the wrappings in mind. This is the mummy of a man who lived during Egypt's Ptolemaic period, between the fourth and first centuries before our era. His name is uncertain. The careful preparation of his body has outlasted what we can confidently say about his identity. Notice the different materials. Linen wraps the body, while shaped coverings use cartonnage, a combination of textile and a plaster-like coating. Some covering elements may have been brought together with the mummy later, so their present arrangement needs to be read with care. Elsewhere in this room, a wooden tray holds another part of the story. Its round hollows and instrument-shaped recesses once organised equipment for the ritual known as the opening of the mouth. Even with the equipment missing, the spaces made for it reveal preparation and order. As you look between the body and these objects, consider how many materials, skilled hands and separate actions were involved in caring for someone after death.