Hands-On History: Ancient Egyptian Canopic Jars
Canopic jars used by the Ancient Egyptians during the mummification process to store and preserve the organs of those being mummified because of their belief in the afterlife. They were commonly either carved from limestone or were made of pottery.
We have made canopic jars by covering a small Dixie cup with clay...
and hand sculpting the tops to depict the four sons of Horus; Hapy, the baboon-headed god, Duamutef, the jackal-headed god, Imsety, the human-headed god and Qebehsenuef, the falcon-headed god. This is a good time to cover some of the Egyptian gods, if you choose to do so.
Another option is to invest in Art in History's canopic jar projects.
They come unpainted and give you advise on how to paint them.
Layer by layer,
they begin to transform...
into realistic looking pieces.
Even my 9-year old was able to make a great looking piece.
In making them, we all paid more attention to the details and there was much conversation about hieroglyphics, canopic jars, mummification and the changes that occurred throughout their various periods.
originally posted January 16, 2014
