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Biomolecular analyses enable new insights into ancient Egyptian embalming

Authors :
Maxime Rageot
Ramadan B. Hussein
Susanne Beck
Victoria Altmann-Wendling
Mohammed I. M. Ibrahim
Mahmoud M. Bahgat
Ahmed M. Yousef
Katja Mittelstaedt
Jean-Jacques Filippi
Stephen Buckley
Cynthianne Spiteri
Philipp W. Stockhammer
Source :
Nature
Publication Year :
2023
Publisher :
Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2023.

Abstract

The ability of the ancient Egyptians to preserve the human body through embalming has not only fascinated people since antiquity, but also has always raised the question of how this outstanding chemical and ritual process was practically achieved. Here we integrate archaeological, philological and organic residue analyses, shedding new light on the practice and economy of embalming in ancient Egypt. We analysed the organic contents of 31 ceramic vessels recovered from a 26th Dynasty embalming workshop at Saqqara1,2. These vessels were labelled according to their content and/or use, enabling us to correlate organic substances with their Egyptian names and specific embalming practices. We identified specific mixtures of fragrant or antiseptic oils, tars and resins that were used to embalm the head and treat the wrappings using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analyses. Our study of the Saqqara workshop extends interpretations from a micro-level analysis highlighting the socio-economic status of a tomb owner3–7 to macro-level interpretations of the society. The identification of non-local organic substances enables the reconstruction of trade networks that provided ancient Egyptian embalmers with the substances required for mummification. This extensive demand for foreign products promoted trade both within the Mediterranean8–10 (for example, Pistacia and conifer by-products) and with tropical forest regions (for example, dammar and elemi). Additionally, we show that at Saqqara, antiu and sefet—well known from ancient texts and usually translated as ‘myrrh’ or ‘incense’11–13 and ‘a sacred oil’13,14—refer to a coniferous oils-or-tars-based mixture and an unguent with plant additives, respectively.

Subjects

Subjects :
Multidisciplinary

Details

ISSN :
14764687 and 00280836
Volume :
614
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Nature
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....e569c4985f010d29ca6523bc5aed5d04
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05663-4