As early as the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, the internal organs of the deceased were removed from the body during the process of mummification.' These organs, the most easily prone to putrefaction, were then placed in special containers, the so-called canopic jars-always a set of four-and buried beside the sarcophagus or coffin with the mummy. The procedure was motivated by the belief that only a complete body, with all of its components, could guarantee an individual's rebirth and the desired afterlife. The earliest known examples were simple stone jars with shallow disklike lids, usually uninscribed. During the First Intermediate Period (the Ninth-Tenth Dynasty, ca. 2100 B.C.), the style changed to lids with human heads, and entire sets of jars were produced from a variety of materials.
It was not until the late Eighteenth Dynasty (ca. 1300 B.C.) that the lids were carved in the characteristic form with the four Sons of Horus, each associated with one of the viscera. Four funerary goddesses, in addition to the canopic deities, protected the jars' contents. Human-headed Imsety guarded the liver (under the protection of the goddess Isis, baboon-headed Hapy guarded the lungs (under the goddess Nephthys), jackal-headed Duamutef guarded the stomach (under the goddess Neith) and falcon-headed ebehsenuef guarded the intestines (under the goddess Serket). The form and iconography of canopic jars and the chests that contained them remained in use till Greco-Roman times, and they were an indispensable element of standard burials, both royal and private
