The ancient Egyptians considered preserving the body after death a necessary matter in order for it to cross into the other world.
Before shrouding the body, many materials were placed, including about 12 materials that were found in this study, to preserve the tissues of the body and prevent the unpleasant smell resulting from its decomposition, long before any understanding of the science of Microbiology.
Science over the past two centuries could only speculate about specific mummification components mentioned in ancient texts.
However, this workshop, which was discovered by the late Egyptian scientist Ramadan Hussein in 2016 near the ruins of the Pyramid of Unas and the Step Pyramid of Djoser, contained a group of pots inscribed with ancient names for the contents and sometimes included instructions such as "to put on his head".
A scientist said Archaeology Philipp Stockhammer of Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany "Most of the materials were from outside Egypt".
Secrets of mummification
- Many of the materials came from the eastern Mediterranean region, including cedar oil, juniper and cypress oil and tar, and tar and olive oil.
- The real surprise is the presence of material that appears to have come from forests in Southeast Asia, thousands of miles away from Egypt.
- There was gum from the damar tree, which grows only in tropical Southeast Asia, and gum from the Elemi tree, which originated in either Southeast Asia or tropical Africa.
- According to Stockhammer "This points to the fact that these gums were traded over huge distances and that Egyptian mummification was, in a way, the catalyst for early globalization and world trade.".
- According to Mahmoud Bahgat, a scientist at Biochemistry From the National Research Center in Cairo and co-author of the study, mummification was carried out in a well-organized and institutionalized manner.
- Access to the underground mummification workshop was available through a hole 12 meters deep, and it dates back to the Egyptian Twenty-sixth Dynasty, or the Sawi era, from 664 to 525 BC at a time of Assyrian and Persian influence and the weakness of Egyptian influence.
- This was after two thousand years of building Giza Pyramids During the era of the Old Kingdom and after six centuries of the rule of the pharaoh Tutankhamunwhose mummy and wonderful funerary items were found in 1922, who ruled during the New Kingdom era.
- Maxime Ragiot, a specialist in biomolecular archeology at the University of Tübingen in Germany and co-author of the study, said "Countless studies have been done of Egyptian mummification, but our lack of knowledge of the materials behind the various names and lack of any practical descriptions has hindered any further knowledge of the matter…Now we can provide answers".
- An ingredient for mummification called anteo was in ancient texts translated as gum frankincense Or bitter, but this study revealed that it is a mixture of cedar oil, juniper oil, cypress, and animal fats.
- Three recipes have been identified, with ingredients such as gum elemi, gum of the pistachio tree, by-products of juniper or cypress, and beeswax used to embalm the head, while other recipes were used to soften the skin or cleanse the body.
- Susan Beck is a scientist Egyptology University of Tübingen and participants in the study commented: "There are still secrets to be revealed. Thanks to modern methods, it is possible to shed new light on certain aspects, not only using new discoveries such as vessels from Saqqara, but also tools stored in museums and archaeological collections.".
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On Wednesday, the researchers revealed the results of biochemical tests for thirty-one pots of porcelain that contained substances Tanith In the site Saqqara Rich archaeological sites near Cairo to decipher the alchemy of the mummification practice used to prepare the dead Egyptians for the afterlife.
The ancient Egyptians considered preserving the body after death a necessary matter in order for it to cross into the other world.
Before shrouding the body, many materials were placed, including about 12 materials that were found in this study, to preserve the tissues of the body and prevent the unpleasant smell resulting from its decomposition, long before any understanding of the science of Microbiology.
Science over the past two centuries could only speculate about specific mummification components mentioned in ancient texts.
However, this workshop, which was discovered by the late Egyptian scientist Ramadan Hussein in 2016 near the ruins of the Pyramid of Unas and the Step Pyramid of Djoser, contained a group of pots inscribed with ancient names for the contents and sometimes included instructions such as “to put on his head.”
A scientist said Archaeology Philipp Stockhammer of Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany, “Most of the material was from outside Egypt“.
Secrets of mummification
- Many of the materials came from the eastern Mediterranean region, including cedar oil, juniper and cypress oil and tar, and tar and olive oil.
- The real surprise is the presence of material that appears to have come from forests in Southeast Asia, thousands of miles away from Egypt.
- There was gum from the damar tree, which grows only in tropical Southeast Asia, and gum from the Elemi tree, which originated in either Southeast Asia or tropical Africa.
- According to Stockhammer, “This points to the fact that these gums were traded over huge distances and that Egyptian mummification was, in a way, a catalyst for early globalization and world trade.”
- According to Mahmoud Bahgat, a scientist at Biochemistry From the National Research Center in Cairo and co-author of the study, mummification was carried out in a well-organized and institutionalized manner.
- Access to the underground mummification workshop was available through a hole 12 meters deep, and it dates back to the Egyptian Twenty-sixth Dynasty, or the Sawi era, from 664 to 525 BC at a time of Assyrian and Persian influence and the weakness of Egyptian influence.
- This was after two thousand years of building Giza Pyramids During the era of the Old Kingdom and after six centuries of the rule of the pharaoh Tutankhamunwhose mummy and wonderful funerary items were found in 1922, who ruled during the New Kingdom era.
- Maxime Ragiot, a biomolecular archeologist at the University of Tübingen in Germany and a co-author of the study, said, “Countless studies have been conducted on Egyptian mummification, but our lack of knowledge of the materials behind the different names and the lack of any practical descriptions hindered any greater knowledge of the matter…Now we can offer answers”.
- An ingredient for mummification called anteo was in ancient texts translated as gum frankincense Or bitter, but this study revealed that it is a mixture of cedar oil, juniper oil, cypress, and animal fats.
- Three recipes have been identified, with ingredients such as gum elemi, gum of the pistachio tree, by-products of juniper or cypress, and beeswax used to embalm the head, while other recipes were used to soften the skin or cleanse the body.
- Susan Beck is a scientist Egyptology University of Tübingen and the participant in the study commented: “There are still secrets to be revealed. Thanks to modern methods, it is possible to shed new light on certain aspects, using not only new discoveries such as vessels from Saqqara, but also tools stored in museums and archaeological collections.”