An engagement with the variability of conceptions, understandings and presentations of the body has become an explicit concern for some archaeologists, as they attempt to address past perceptions and constructions of corporeality. This paper is an attempt to understand how the ancient Egyptians may have conceived of the human body, with particular reference to a small set of data known as embalmers' caches. I am interested in exploring the landscape of Egyptian bodies via a consideration of the substances from which bodies were understood to be made. I intend to show how the substances of the self changed through life and death, and what this may reveal about Egyptian perceptions of bodily boundaries