general belief in a better immortality; but if we may judge from
the burial customs, the great mass of the people still believed
merely in an underworld, Earu, a duplicate of the earthly life,
but with greater possibilities of danger and evil.

During the course of Egyptian history the position in which the
body is buried undergoes a series of remarkable changes. During
the early pre-dynastic period, the body, loosely enfolded in
cloths and skins, is laid in the grave double up on the left
side, _usually_ with the head south (i.e. upstream). This
position becomes the custom, with very few exceptions, during the
late predynastic period and the first three dynasties. Throughout
the Fourth to Sixth Dynasties, the body was in the same position,
but with the head north, loosely covered with shawls and
garments. The crouching position, with some slight modifications,
continues to be used for the poorest class down to the New
Empire. Among the Nubians, it is universal to the New Empire and
customary even later in unmixed Nubian communities. The swathed
extended burials begin in Egypt in the Fourth Dynasty, so far as
remains are preserved. Some members of the royal family of Cheops
were buried in swathed wrapping, lying extended on the left side
with the knees bent. During the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties this
extended position on the side becomes customary for the better
classes; and during the Middle Empire it becomes almost
universal.

The final burial position, the swathed mummy lying extended on
the back, does not become general until the New Empire, about
1600 B.C. although it is the position hitherto regarded as the
characteristic Egyptian burial position. A few isolated cases,