retention but by the Middle Kingdom and third Intermediate period it reduced significantly. Wade argues this could be due to social status whereby heart retention
in the nobles distinguished them from the ‘commoners’ thus giving them a more
favourable afterlife. As mentioned above, Diodorus Siculus, is the only ancient source to mention mummification procedures regarding the heart. Wade argues that his account has influenced contemporary thought and thus formulated stereotypes that the heart was always retained or replaced in the body