Here's something really yummy to read about while you eat. *grin*

Mummification, as we have come to know it, had yet to be developed during the Predynastic Period. At first the corpses were laid to rest in the sand and the arid environment would naturally mummify the body. However, when the Archaic Egyptians starting interring their dead into wooden coffins that would then be placed inside brick tombs or tombs cut into the ground and covered over with rocks this natural mummification process was unable to take place, causing the body to decay.

To retard this decaying process, the first attempts at preserving the bodies were made by wrapping the bodies in resin-soaked linen bandages. Unfortunately, this technique resulted only in the formation of a hardened shell in which the corpse would eventually decayed.

The corpses of this period were usually laid to rest in a somewhat fetal position on their left side. Funerary items were interred with the body consisting of a variety of things from jewelry to food and wine. The tombs themselves would vary depending upon class. The Pharaohs, starting with Narmer, built a cenotaph tomb at Abydos and their true tomb at Saqqara, both usually magnificent structures. There is evidence that leads scholars to believe that the servants of the Kings and Queens were killed and also interred to further serve their master or mistress in the other world. The nobility would have far more modest tombs then their monarchs, but still a step ahead of the artisans. The artisans' tombs were relatively simple, but required more contruction then the tombs of the common Egyptian.

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Sources:
Archaic Egypt - W.B. Emery
Egypt Before the Pharaohs - Michael A. Hoffman
Egypt The World of the Pharaohs - edited by Regine Schulz and Matthias