Teasing out the secret recipes for mummification in ancient Egypt

Most of what we know about ancient Egyptian mummification techniques comes from several ancient texts.in addition to the text embalming ritual, The Greek historian Herodotus mentions in his writings the use of natron to dehydrate the body. history. But details about the specific spices, oils, resins, and other ingredients used are scarce. Fortunately, science is helping fill that gap. According to a new paper published in Nature, the research team used molecular analysis to identify some of the basic ingredients used in mummification.

Egyptian embalming is believed to have begun in or before the Predynastic period, when people realized that the dry heat of the sand tended to dry out and preserve bodies buried in the desert. , the idea of ​​preserving the body after death permeated Egyptian religious beliefs. When people began burying their dead in rock graves away from dry sand, they used chemicals such as natron salts and plant-based resins for embalming.

The procedure usually started with laying the corpse on a table and removing the internal organs, except for the heart. According to Herodotus, “they first pulled part of the brain out of the nostrils with iron hooks, and injected certain drugs into the rest of the brain” to liquefy the remaining brain matter.

They then flushed the body cavity with spices and palm wine and sewed the body back up, leaving aromatic plants and spices inside, including a bag of natron.The bodies were then left to dehydrate for 40 days. . Dried organs were sealed in canopic jars (or sometimes returned to the body cavity). The corpse was then wrapped in several layers of linen cloth, and in these layers were placed amulets to protect the deceased from evil. The fully wrapped mummy was coated with resin to prevent moisture and placed in a coffin (also sealed with resin).

In 1994, there was a memorable attempt by two archaeologists to recreate the mummification process. It was found that this made it easier to remove the brain from the skull. A hook for pulling out brain matter. This he confirmed in 2008 when a CT scan revealed the remains of a rod-shaped tool in the mummy’s cranial cavity. sands A hook that contradicts Herodotus’ account.

The new study builds on a 2018 study in which Egyptologist Stephen Buckley and his colleagues at the University of Tübingen analyzed organic residues from the packaging of mummies with a technique called gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The method classifies vaporized chemical compounds by their mass, allowing scientists to analyze the chemical composition of the sample. As we reported at the time, they found the wrappings to be saturated with a mixture of vegetable oils, aromatic plant extracts, gums or sugars, and heated softwood resin. They were essentially the same ones that were later used to treat the bodies of New Kingdom royalty. It was useful for

The findings corroborate earlier research in 2001 by Buckley (then at the University of Bristol) and his colleague Richard Evershed, in which they identified linen from a predynastic burial at Mostagueda around 374 AD. found evidence of a very similar preservative compound in the packaging fragments of km (232 mi) north of Turin’s Long Lost Tomb of the Mummies. Some of these wrappings date from as early as 4300 BC (about 600 years older than the Turin mummy), others to 3100 BC, but some are associated with actual mummies There was no A 2018 study was the first to identify predynastic embalming materials from intact mummies.

Here we analyze the remains of a collection of 31 ceramic vessels excavated from the Saqqara necropolis near Cairo. Specifically from his workshop of Embalming 664-524 BC (26th Dynasty). Saqqara served as the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis and boasts numerous pyramids, including the Step Pyramid of King Djoser. Over the years, archaeologists have unearthed many tombs, relics, and mummies during excavations at the site. For example, a cache of dozens of mummies and, more recently, the new papyrus from Egypt, a rare golden burial mask. Book of the Dead.