A labeled pot found in a 2,500-year-old embalming workshop reveals plant and animal extracts used to prepare ancient Egyptian mummies. This includes ingredients that come from hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away.
Chemical analysis of the contents of the pot identified a complex mixture of plant resins and other substances, some of which originated from plants growing as far away as Southeast Asia. The discovery was reported in a February 1 paper. Nature.
Historically, insights into embalming have come from two main sources. It’s a historical text and a chemical analysis of the mummy itself. But connecting these lines of information proved difficult, says Salima Ikram, an archaeologist and mummy expert at the American University in Cairo. “You may have a name for something, but you have no idea what it is, except for the hieroglyph that suggests it’s an oil or resin.”
But that’s changed now thanks to the discovery in 2016 of an underground embalming workshop at Saqqara, an ancient Egyptian burial ground that has been in use since before 2900 BC. The site also contains a burial chamber, and elite members of society were likely buried there, the authors say. Archaeologists have uncovered dozens of pottery vessels used for embalming in Saqqara workshops dating from 664-525 BC. “This is the first time I’ve gotten a jar with a label on the contents,” says Ikram.
To identify the specific contents of the vessel, the Egyptian and German teams analyzed the mixture at the National Research Center’s laboratory in Giza, Egypt, using a technique called gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. . This indicated that the pots contained substances previously associated with mummification, including extracts from juniper bushes, cypress trees and cedar trees growing in the eastern Mediterranean region. The team also found bitumen in the Dead Sea, as well as animal fat and beeswax.
But researchers also identified two surprising ingredients. Canarium A tree that grows in the rainforests of Asia and Africa.the other is called dammar shore Tree found in tropical forests of southern India, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.
“Egypt was resource poor for many resinous substances, so they were procured or traded from distant lands,” said Karl Herron, an archaeologist at the British Museum in London.
imported ingredients
Ancient trade networks linked India and Southeast Asia with the Mediterranean region. But it’s not clear whether Egyptian embalmers sought out these specific ingredients or found them through trial and error, says Ikram. “Absolutely brilliant,” she says. “Who would have thought they were getting something that could come from India?”
Ancient Egyptian embalmers had a sophisticated understanding of the properties of raw materials, the authors say. Pots contained complex mixtures of ingredients, sometimes carefully heated or distilled. Many of the resins had antibacterial properties.A bowl containing elemi and animal fat was labeled “to make his smell pleasant” or properties that promote preservation.
“Their knowledge of these substances was amazing,” says study co-author Maxime Rageot, a biomolecular archaeologist at the University of Tübingen in Germany.
Chemical studies of mummies suggest that embalming recipes have become more complex over time, says Rageot. But one open question is how the ancient Egyptians developed certain embalming treatments and recipes, and why they chose certain ingredients over others, says the research co-author. Mahmoud Bahgat, author and biochemist at the Egyptian National Research Center in Cairo, said at a press conference.
This article is reproduced with permission and was first published on February 1, 2023.
