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Ancient Egypt: Ingredients used to embalm mummies identified
Image source, Reuters
Researchers have identified the specific recipes used by the ancient Egyptians nearly 3,000 years ago to make mummies!
The findings came after more than thirty large ceramic pots were discovered at a site in Saqqara, which is close to Egypt's capital, Cairo.
Experts were able to test what was in the pots and found that some of them also had instructions written on them.
They discovered that ingredients including tree resin, plant oils and beeswax were all used in the process.
How did the Ancient Egyptians make mummies?
Image source, University of T眉bingen
It's long been known that the mummification process was long and complex and involved the use of many different substances.
But now, thanks to researchers from two German universities - the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) and the University of Tubingen - more details have been discovered about what was used and the various methods involved.
The team looked at thirty one different ceramic pots that were discovered at an underground workshop, which is believed to date back to around 600BC, at an ancient Egyptian burial site in Saqqara.
They found that each pot was inscribed with specific instructions on how to use the ingredients such as "put on his head" or "bandage or embalm with it".
By then testing what was in each pot, they discovered that different mixtures were used on different parts of the body.
Ingredients discovered in the ceramic vessels included tree resin, juniper and cedar plant oils, animal fats and beeswax.
Many of these substances were already known to be used in mummification, but some were new.
The study also found that many of the embalming ingredients came from other countries far away, suggesting the ancient Egyptians knew the properties of these products, rather than just using them by accident.
LMU archaeologist Professor Philipp Stockhammer explained: "What really surprised us was that the bulk of the substances used for embalming was not from Egypt itself.
"Some of them were imported from the Mediterranean region and even from tropical Africa and South East Asia," he added.