Beginning in the late New Kingdom and becoming common place in the Third Intermediate Period, embalmers ceased the practice of putting the organs into canopic jars.  Instead, they would purify, dehydrate, and wrap the organs and place them back inside the body.  However, the significance of the canopic jar to the burial tradition remained strong.

 

Wanting to preserve the protection provided by the four Sons of Horus, Egyptians placed dummy jars embellished with the likenesses of the gods inside the tomb.  These could be functional jars, albeit empty, or, as is the case with the Imseti jar in the gallery, dummy jars could be sculptures carved or molded to resemble traditional canopic jars, but without the ability to open.