It might surprise you which organ the ancient Egyptians DIDN'T save in Canopic Jars

[@houstonmuseum]

We have an Egyptian representative on-site 365 days a year. We work closely with the Egyptian government. We are in constant communication with our local Egyptian consulate. Every Egyptian representative and agency goes over our collection with a fine tooth comb to ensure nothing is stolen and everything is ethical. We fully, fully support repatriation efforts. Ethical exhibits, such as ours, under full transparency and support of the Egyptian government, exist not only to educate the world about the past, but as a reminder that the Egyptian people are STILL here.

[@mohamedabdelaziz4802]

I’m touched that you addressed this. I will be amending a comment I made before as I wasn’t aware of this context. I appreciate your cooperation with the Egyptian government, your transparency, and your dedication to ethical curation.

[@chriss5266]

Crazy that the one organ that sits closest to our main sensory organs (eyes, ears, nose, & tongue) was pegged as unimportant.

[@LouiseLou-q3v]

It’s not important in the after life , the brain is only for this plain , the brain keeps us alive and breathing we have no use for it once we pass over

[@mitchjohnson4714]

I definitely feel like I'm looking out of my eyes, but maybe that's because I've learned about the brain.

[@joanbennettnyc]

Not just that those organs rotted: they explode with liquid if not removed

[@tessat338]

The first time that I ever fainted was when I was ten or eleven and in the elementary school library. I was reading about how the Egyptian mummification priests poked the brain out of the skull through the nostrils using a hooked metal rod. My mom was a nurse, so I was used to hearing about medical procedures. I've never been particularly squeamish and, at the time, I didn't think that I felt that this was particularly upsetting. I picked myself up and continued reading about Egyptian mummies. I could have been standing with my knees locked. I was pretty hungry and this was before lunch, so reading about the mummification process might just have been a coincidence, or being hungry might have made me more susceptible, but there you are.

[@cheshireket3132]

The Egyptian afterlife has to be the hardest out of all the ones I've studied about. But the Field of Reeds sounds to be worth it. Praise to Horus 🎉

[@arringar]

As a subject matter expert, I’m disappointed with this video. You didn’t mention the pectoral scarab, and you really left out vital information about the heart scarab which is equally as interesting as the canopic jars. The heart was NOT always left in the body, it was sometimes removed and replaced by a heart scarab, typically with an inscription containing a spell to lighten the weight of a heavy heart (generally for a bad or selfish person) so that when it was weighed and compared against the feather of Ma’at during judgement it would pass the test instead of being devoured by Ammit. When it was left inside it was typically removed and mummified separately then put back. And it’s a shame to display 4 beautiful alabaster canopic jars and not represent the 4 sons of Horus and point out their respective connection to each of these vital organs.

[@wesleymartusewicz2193]

I freaking love canopic jars

[@GawainNYC]

I don't buy this, "they didn't know what the brain is for", "ancient man was stupid" thing. They would have seen the effects of head trauma. A spear though the head kills ya stone cold dead, but bob gets an axe to the head and lives, now he's VERY different. That does not happen with say an arm or leg.

[@gravel9270]

They probably think the heart does the thinking and emotions because if you're afraid, nervous, anxious, angry or in love, your heart beats differ.

[@gravel9270]

Also if your heart was attacked it would still kill you. A heart attack or condition could also render a person disabled too.

[@Rosula_D]

Nobody said they were stupid. Thousands of years later, we got incredible technology and we STILL don't know much about the brain.

[@GawainNYC]

​@Rosula_D true, but thats differnt from saying they did not know what it was. Someone looked at the evidence and jumped to the wrong conclusion and it just got accepted as fact.

[@LoneWombat2126]

The ancient Egyptians also believed the mind was in heart too

[@tanyaredfield]

But then they didn't keep the heart? Odd.

[@gabrielle9893]

You’re coming from the perspective of someone who was born into a world of extremely advanced medical science. I actually think it makes a lot of sense to believe your thoughts and emotions come from the heart if all you have to go on is how it feels. When your sad, you can feel it in your chest, for example. Thus the phrase “my heart hurts” still resonates with us even though we are well aware that our heart has little to do with the actual process of feeling sadness. It took us thousands upon thousands of years to figure out how the human body works, and we still have a lot to learn.

[@chelseahuddle557]

@@tanyaredfield She says at the end of the video that they kept the heart in the body because of how important they viewed it to be.

[@Latviešu_Amēlija]

No​@@gabrielle9893

[@hilbillie]

How did they not figure out the brain. I'm sure they saw head injuries & how they affected consciousness and personality.

[@gravel9270]

They probably think the heart does the thinking and emotions because if you're afraid, nervous, anxious, angry or in love, your heart beats differ.

[@NotEvenOverThere]

We still don’t completely understand the brain till this day so just think about it from their perspective, they just didn’t know enough to make that connection

[@Tenraiden]

Or they may have thought that you get a new brain in the afterlife

[@dariusjohnson2139]

They didn't know what the brain was for??

[@joanbennettnyc]

They believed your heart was where you thought: when you were scared or in love, it beat faster, so it must be thinking. They believed the brain stuffed up your sinuses.

[@ack7956]

To be fair, if you didn't know any better like you do now, you probably wouldn't think the weird squishy coiled tube in your skull is what lets you think

[@tazzythylacine7123]

It's a totally crazy concept for me too, because it's so obvious for us nowadays:D

[@chriss5266]

​​@@ack7956Not realizing the thing that sits right by your main sensory organs (eyes, ears, nose, & tongue) seems like an obvious oversight my dude

[@veloro7]

The brain, my friend, is still the least understood organ to this day. It was only in the early 1900s that people started to see how important the brain was. So please, don't cast any judgement. We are still an ignorant species

[@Gardentrellis]

Brain? Don’t need that!

[@Tenraiden]

They may have thought that the brain represents our physical/mortal self, so you don't need it or you would get a new one in the afterlife/next life.

[@mitchjohnson4714]

Is this related to the humors?

[@weareallbornmad410]

That's a Greek thing. I don't think the Egyptians shared that theory. Don't quote me though; I'm talking from memory. Maybe the museum experts will give you a full answer, I'd be happy to read that. 🙂

[@J242D]

Your earrings and outfit are clean 💯

[@gravel9270]

The fact they, and probably other ancient civilizations, didn't know what the brain is for is probably the reason why they say "Follow your heart" when making decisions because they believed that thinking and emotions are made by the heart, not the brain.

[@ggRamps]

maybe they knew what the brain was and were afraid that your consciousness would be trapped on earth for as long as it was preserved?

[@andronaristy3144]

I could honestly believe this

[@gravel9270]

They probably think the heart does the thinking and emotions because if you're afraid, nervous, anxious, angry or in love, your heart beats differ.

[@SoLNaTaL555]

She literally said, that the Kemetian people didn't know what the brain was for... SMH.. Who gives these people a degree?! She just offended my ancestors.

[@yeshaya24]

the Heart part is so much like Islam teaching that the heart is the center of the Soul 😊

[@robertallison5665]

Egyptians is too generic. Which age of Egyptians?

[@joanbennettnyc]

18 to 35 usually

[@222ravens4]

That’s like one of the most basic facts about mummification any elementary school kid learns? Who is surprised by this?

[@gravel9270]

People who weren't listening to class, duh. Also those that weren't taught by their teachers about this. Our class wasn't 😢 so I learned on it on my own.

[@weareallbornmad410]

I'm pretty sure most elementary schools don't teach mummification techniques. See kids, first you carve a hole in the chest... yes, Billy, just like that... careful about the blood...