egypt had a developed view of the afterlife with rituals for preparing the body and soul for a peaceful life after death. beliefs about the soul and afterlife focused mainly on preserving the body. this was because they believed that the "ka" (a part of a person's soul that was depicted as a bird with a persons head) was still living in the body after death and it was important for the ka to be reunited with the ba, the spirit or soul to form the akh. this meant that embalming and mummification were done, in order to preserve the person's identity in the afterlife. originally the dead were buried in reed coffins in the hot sand, which caused the remains to dry quickly, and then were buried. later, they started constructing wooden tombs, and the long process of mummification was developed by the egyptians around the 4th dynasty. all soft tissues were removed, and the cavities washed and packed with natron, then the outer body was buried in natron as well. the heart was the only organ left within the body as it was believed the heart had to be weighed in the underworld to see if the person was worthy of a peaceful afterlife. the other organs were placed in 'canopic jars' which had seals depicting the heads of the gods that guarded the intestines: imsety,an egyptian man who guards the liver, hapi, a baboon who guards the lungs, duamutef, a jackal who guards the stomach and qebehsenuef, a falcon who guards the intestines.