The women carried spices in order to anoint the body of Jesus. They probably did not see Joseph anointing the body and were unaware that Jesus had already been anointed for burial by the unnamed women (Mark 14:1–11). The fact that they expected to anoint Jesus’ body for burial shows us that they most certainly considered Jesus to be dead and they did not expect him to be have risen from the dead.1
1 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.