A spoof on the Time of your Life song by Green Day, explaining mummification and its purpose for the ancient Egyptians.

Mummification equals immortality
Your brain’s pulled out your nose by an embalmer priest
Canopic jars preserve the liver and the rest
Your heart’s left in for the feather of truth test
A bunch of linen bandages
Some natron salt, a knife
I’m ready for the Afterlife.

I’ve got my amulets and my Book of the Dead
A golden portrait mask is placed upon my head
Hieroglyphs praise me on my sarcophagus
I’ve paid the mourners well
I’m ready, Anubis.
A bunch of linen bandages
Some natron salt, a knife
I’m ready for the Afterlife.

Egyptian archaeologists carrying out excavations at the site of a planned youth center have found 14 tombs dating back to the third century BC, including one with a female mummy adorned with jewelry.

A team of forensic experts is on a mission for Nefertiti and the Amarna dynasty.

Languishing away on CBBC lurks the best sketch show the Beeb have made in years – HORRIBLE HISTORIES! Here’s just a tiny nugget: a musical guide to preserving your very own pharaoh.

One of the most popular stories around the discovery of King Tutankhamun is that of the Curse of King Tut., made popular after the death of the discovery’s funder Lord Carnarvon just 6 weeks after the tomb was opened. Fuelled by a mistranslation of the Anubis statue which threatened death on all those who entered the tomb, a media frenzy took over, even though the vast majority of the team, including explorer Howard Carter, went on to live long lives. Dr Zahi Hawass recounts these tales and tells us that he had never believed in such a curse upon the Tomb of King Tutankhamen.

Dr Janice Kamrin takes us on a trip through the Egyptian Museum, Cairo and shows the spectacular Canopic Shrine – a golden and intricately decorated container flanked by four figures of gods. Inside this stunning shrine was the Canopic containers, which held the vital organs of the mummified body. Made from solid blocks of alabaster, the individual viscera containers were themselves protected inside gold coffinettes.

Dr Zahi Hawass examines an Old Kingdom mummy found quite by accident in a tomb at Saqqara and explains the mummification process and why each stage was carried out, as well as why the heart was left inside the body. Video by Nico Piazza, featuring still-photography by Sandro Vannini.

A video animated reconstruction of the mummy of Hatshepsut.

The ancient Egyptians developed a sophisticated method to preserve a dead body for the afterlife: mummification. First, the internal organs were removed and all moisture from the body was eliminated. Next, the body was wrapped with long strips of linen, and then covered with a large linen cloth. Follow the steps of the mummification process in this short animation about the Getty Museum’s Romano-Egyptian mummy Herakleides.