A workshop discovered in Saqqara showcases the different ingredients ancient Egyptians used for embalming.
Archaeologists at Saqqara have finally identified the many embalming ingredients used to mummify the dead in ancient Egypt. They also deciphered how those different ingredients — many of which came from distant lands — were used.
Now, in a first-of-its-kind study published Feb. 1 in the journal Nature , researchers have used chemical analysis of the resins coating the vessels to identify the contents. But by analyzing the residues coating the pottery, they identified ingredients on 31 of the vessels coming from locations near and far. Those included resin from the elemi tree , which is 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.
"We were able to identify the true chemical makeup of each substance," study co-author Philipp Stockhammer , professor in the Department of Archaeogenetics at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, said during the conference."Often [embalming vessels become contaminated over time], but in this case they're not. A lot of the vessels in this case were in good condition."
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