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It was startling. More than 5,000 years ago, after burying their dead, the ancient Egyptians learned that the burning desert sands desiccated corpses.

Instead of turning to dust, the skin shriveled up and clung to the bones.

Mummification—the practice of dressing for success, eternal success—had begun.

And since they didn’t want to spend eternity looking rotten, those who could afford to had their bodies painstakingly embalmed.

Embalming, as practiced in ancient Egypt, was a lost art, until Bob Brier decided to learn by doing. He and a team of experts retraced the steps of the Egyptian masters.

Wielding a tool much like a crochet hook, the ancient embalmers emptied the skull by pulling clumps of brain matter out through the nostrils.

Delicate and skilled, they caused no damage to the visage of their dearly departed. Slicing the smallest possible incision into the abdomen, embalmers plucked out the stomach, liver, intestines, and other organs.

Beautifully sculpted canopic jars stored the cured entrails for all eternity.

Natron, a type of salt, was the embalmers’ secret weapon. It coaxed moisture from the flesh and reduced odors. Small packets were stuffed inside the abdominal cavity. The body was covered with some 400 pounds of it.

Thirty-five days after recreating the ancient embalmer’s art, Dr. Brier returned—fingers crossed. He saw...a mummy. Slowly, gently, Dr. Brier and his team removed the natron. They anointed the body, by now dehydrated, with frankincense and myrrh.

Then the wrapping started—layer after layer of linen, decorated with hieroglyphic prayers. A small amulet was placed over the only organ left inside, the heart.

With a final benediction, the mummy embarked on its journey to the afterworld and eternal life.