Every royal individual's tomb included Shabtis among their burial equipment. Egyptologist, Glenn Janes studied the largest and most detailed Shabtis that was found in Tutankhamun's tomb. The significance of the study was that on the body of this wooden figure, a spell from the Book of the Dead was carved in hieroglyphs, promising that this Shabtis will work on behalf of King Tutankhamun in the Afterlife. These hieroglyphs discovered on this figure in Tutankhamun's tomb began Jane's theory on what the purpose of Shabtis was- to serve the King in the afterlife. The Shabtis were significant in the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb as one particular figure was able to provide historians with hieroglyphs to translate and create a theory on the true purpose of Shabtis in Ancient Egyptian culture.
The Canopic Jars found in the tomb developed historian's knowledge of the mummification process in Ancient Egypt. Within the tomb, a canopic shrine was discovered, protected by a canopy of gilded wood. It was located at the east wall of the treasury of King Tutankhamun and contained canopic jars that held his embalmed internal organs. The jars were used to preserve the organs of Tutankhamun and prepare him for the afterlife. These jars were made of pottery or carved from limestone. Traditionally, there are four jars, one for each of the following organs: stomach, intestines, lungs and liver. Egyptologist Sir Ernest Budge came up with the theory that extended the knowledge of historians regarding the mummification process. Historians now recognise that the use of these canopic jars was to protect the internal organs as the Egyptians believed that the deceased were a continuation of their mortality. This theory established the Egyptian belief that the preservation of these vital organs would help the deceased during the afterlife. This reflected another theory by a British chemist named Alfred Lucas who assumed that the heart was not put into a canopic jar for a significant reason and that the Egyptians must have believed that the embalming ointments preserved these organs.
