Global InformationExcerebration information
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Excerebration is an ancient Egyptian mummification procedure of removal of the brain from corpses prior to actual embalming. Greek writer Herodotus, a frequent visitor to Egypt, wrote in the fifth century B.C. about the process, "Having agreed on a price, the bearers go away, and the workmen, left alone in their place, embalm the body. If they do this in a perfect way, they first draw out part of the brain through the nostrils with an iron hook, and inject certain drugs into the rest".[1]
An object more than 6.8 inches long, probably made from plants in the group Monocotyledon (including palm and bamboo), would have been used for liquefying and removing the brain. The instrument would be inserted through a hole punched into the ethmoid bone near the nose via a chisel.[2][3] Some parts of the brain would be wrapped around this stick and pulled out, and the other parts would be liquefied. In order to drain the remaining liquified brain and cerebral fluid the individual would be put on their abdomen or their head would be lifted.[2]
- ^ translated by A. D. Godley, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1920, through Perseus Digital Library
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
:0was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Chapman, Paul H.; Gupta, Rajiv (2007). "Reinvestigation of a Middle Kingdom Head Provides New Insights Concerning Mummification and Its Relationship to Contemporary Anatomic Knowledge and Funerary Ritual". Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt. 43: 113–127. ISSN 0065-9991. JSTOR 27801609.