In my studies of Ancient Egypt I have found embalmers to be unusually thorough in their work. It would seem as if the embalmer in question here must have either been distracted, was having an off sort of day, or was perhaps new on the job.
A recent CT scan of a female 40 year old, but now aged 2,400 year old Egyptian mummy, revealed that a brain-removal tool had accidentally been left inside of it by an embalmer. The tool was found to be between the back of of the skull and the left parietal bone. Inside the skull itself was resin which is used for the mummification process.
The University Hospital of Dubrava’s Dr. Mislav Cavka said that the tool was “cut using a clamp through the endoscope.” She explained, “Some parts of the brain would be wrapped around this stick and pulled out, and the other parts would be liquefied.”
After that occurred the mummy was neatly flipped over so the liquid could be drained straight out of the nose. Dr. Cavka said, “It is an error that the embalmers left this stick in the skull.” Well, yes, it certainly was.
With all of the mummies that have been examined, and there have been many, only one other one so far has been found with the same stick inside of its skull, and that particular one was a 2,200 year old mummy.
This new and famous mummy is right now in the Archaeological Museum of Zagreb Croatia and was brought there sometime in the 19th century.
Researchers investigating this mummy said, “It is known that mummification was widely practiced throughout the ancient Egyptial civilization, but it was a time-consuming and costly practice. Thus, not everyone could afford to perform the same mummification procedure.”
So perhaps the deceased woman’s relatives didn’t have much spare money lying around and decided that as the Egyptian woman’s soul was important they needed to have her mummified but perhaps got a cut-rate embalmer to do the job. Certainly anything is possible.
Sources: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2248945/Tool-used-ancient-Egyptian-embalmers-remove-BRAINS-discovered-skull-2-400-year-old-mummy.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57559276/brain-removal-tool-left-in-mummys-skull/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/15/mummy-brain-removal-tool-egyptian_n_2301802.html
