A concise history of the development of the process of mummification in ancient Egypt. It commences with the burial practices of Predynastic times and then goes through the material evidence for mummification from the Early Dynastic Period to its decline in Roman times. The discussion of the mummies of each period is set in the contect of the prevailing funerary customs, and a description of the funeral and the refined methods used in the New Kingdom is given. There is a section on the practice of animal mummification in the later periods. The book ends with an updated chapter that summarises the modern research into the subject from Greek times up to the present day.