Researchers have discovered the techniques used by the Egyptians to preserve the mummies in good conditionto the point that after thousands of years, many of these are still in a perfect state of preservation and even their facial features can be seen.
Experts have revealed that the ancient Egyptians were experts in chemistry and knew exactly what ingredients were needed to prevent the meat from spoiling.
Newly discovered embalming recipes, used around 2,700 years ago, included tree resin, juniper, and beeswax. Some of these items had been imported from Southeast Asia. and had significant antibacterial properties, the experts said.
An international team of researchers analyzed 31 ceramic vessels recovered from an embalming workshop in Saqqara, one of the most important cemeteries in ancient Egypt, details DailyMail.
The vessels, dating from the year 664 a. C., they had inscribed texts that provided embalming instructions such as “put the head” or “bandage it”. They also contained the names of the embalming substances and had residues of the substances themselves. This allowed the team to understand, for the first time, what chemicals were used during mummification and how they were mixed, named and applied.
For example, they found three different mixtures that included substances such as elemi resin, pistacia tree resin, beeswax, and juniper by-products, which were specifically used to embalm the head. Other mixtures were used to wash the body or soften the skin.
“The embalmer has used some substances that could be important both for their antifungal and antimicrobial properties,” said Maxime Rageot, from the University of Tubingen in Germany and one of the study’s authors. “These are useful, for example, to preserve human tissue and reduce some unpleasant odors… Materials such as shoe polish and beeswax could also be used to seal the pores in the skin and reduce moisture.”
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Professor Philipp Stockhammer, who also worked on the study, said one of his most surprising findings was that the tropical resins had been transported from Southeast Asia.
“Embalming was one of the early drivers of globalization because it meant that these resins needed to be transported great distances.from Southeast Asia to Egypt,” he said.
He added that the Egyptians used antibacterial and antifungal substances to keep the skin better preserved, but without having a microbiological background, without knowing about bacteria. “My personal highlight was seeing this enormous knowledge that has been accumulated through centuries of embalming experience,” Stockhammer said. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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