Excerebration

Excerebration is an ancient Egyptian mummification procedure of removal of the brain from corpses prior to actual embalming.

[1] An object more than 6.8 inches long, probably made from plants in the group Monocotyledon (including palm and bamboo), would have been used for liquefying and removing the brain.

In order to drain the remaining liquified brain and cerebral fluid, the individual would be put on their abdomen or their head would be lifted.

During the Old and Middle Kingdom there was a low frequency of skull perforations, leading some authors to hypothesize an alternative entrance via the foramen magnum.

[4][7] Therefore, one could infer that it was more honorable and respectful to the deceased if excerebration and the removal of other organs were performed via cuts made on the left or eastern side of the body.