An online talk By Diana Hayden on the development of the use of canopic jars
14th June 2026
The talk traced the development of canopic jars throughout the history of ancient Egypt. It began with the uninscribed, flat headed jars of the Old Kingdom and the earliest evidence of a mummy’s preserved human tissue in the small linen packages stored in a natron solution in Hetepheres’ tomb. From the Middle Kingdom jars had human heads and inscriptions named the person within and linked them with the four sons of Horus. A range of styles was seen including jars with legs and jars wearing masks like those which are found on the mummies themselves. All the examples seen were human headed.
From the 18th dynasty we looked at the canopic chest of Hatshepsut which is inscribed with prayers to each of the sons and their protective goddesses to protect the pharaoh which is is inside. Tutankhamun’s canopic chest showed a new style that made no use of jars but had a chest in which each compartment was topped with a human head and contained a small mummiform figure that looked just like his coffin. The sarcophagus of Horemheb showed that the four gods had acquired their animal heads by the end of this dynasty.
A range of examples from the 19th dynasty onwards showed the gods with those heads on canopic chests and tomb walls, but there were some variations. In the later stages, organs could be left in the body and some of the jars produced were dummies with no internal space.
We ended with a discussion of the evidence – which showed no good reason to think that the four sons were linked to specific organs, and no explanation for why they suddenly gained their animal heads.
We thank Diana for giving such an interesting and informative talk.
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