This Was The Chilling Life Of An Embalmer In Ancient Egypt

The mystery of the ingredients used by the Egyptians to embalm the dead was solved by a group of archaeologists in Saqqara, Egypt. These experts identified the numerous ingredients used in one of the most important funerary rituals in ancient Egypt. They also discovered that many of these materials came from far away lands. Find out more about this.

An international team of archaeologists discovered, in 2016, an underground embalming workshop near the pyramid of Unas, south of Cairo. This complex housed approximately 100 ceramic vessels belonging to the 26th dynasty of Egypt (664 to 525 BC). Many of these pieces had inscriptions to identify their contents, but many others contained substances that were a mystery.

The facilities were in perfect order and it was a reflection of the care with which the embalmers worked. “One room was used for cleaning the bodies and the other for storage [and for the actual embalming],” Susanne Beck, co-author of the study and a professor in the Department of Egyptology at the University of Tübingen in Germany, explained at a press conference.

Unraveling the mystery of embalming

In a study published February 1 in the journal Nature, researchers used chemical analysis of the resins that coated the vessels to identify their contents. In 31 vessels, they identified ingredients from places near and far from Egypt.

These included resin from the elemi tree (Canarium luzonicum), native to the Philippines; resin from Pistacia, a genus of flowering plants in the cashew family that grow in parts of Africa and Eurasia; and beeswax.

When comparing the various identified mixtures with the inscriptions on the labels, the researchers found several inaccuracies. For example, the word “antiu,” which translates to “myrrh” or “incense,” was often mislabeled.

None of the residues studied represented a single substance, but rather a mixture of several, the researchers said. The team found these ingredients to be cedar, juniper or cypress oil and animal fat, though the mix can vary from place to place and time to time.

Other uses

It should be noted that not all of the contents found were used to preserve the dead. Experts believe many of them helped eliminate unpleasant odors or prepare bodies for embalming by reducing skin moisture, according to Maxime Rageot, lead author of the study and adjunct professor of Archaeological Sciences at the University of Tübingen.

This is deduced after the team deciphered instructions inscribed on some of the containers. For example: “put on their head,” “bandage or embalm with it,” and “make their smell pleasant.”

“It is fascinating how much chemical knowledge they [the embalmers] had, as they knew that bare skin would immediately be endangered by microbes,” said Philipp Stockhammer, professor at the Department of Archaeogenetics at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

“They knew which substances were antifungal and could be applied to help stop the spread of bacteria on the skin.”

The same researcher points out that thanks to the inscriptions on the vessels, it will be possible in the future to better decipher the vocabulary of ancient Egyptian chemistry, which until now remained an enigma.