CANOPIC JAR

in ancient Egyptian funerary ritual, covered vessel of wood, stone, pottery, or faience in which was buried the embalmed viscera removed from a body during the process of mummification. The earliest Canopic jars, which came into use during the Old Kingdom (c. 2575c. 2130 BC), had plain lids; but during the Middle Kingdom (c. 1938c. 1600? BC) the jars were decorated with sculpted human heads, probably representations of the deceased; from the 19th dynasty until the end of the New Kingdom (15391075 BC), the heads represented the four sons of the god Horus (i.e., jackal-headed Duamutef, falcon-headed Qebehsenuf, human-headed Imset, and baboon-headed Hapy). In the 20th dynasty (11901075 BC) the practice began of returning the embalmed viscera to the body, and the art of making Canopic jars subsequently declined.