The surprising chemicals used to embalm Egyptian mummies some from origins in southeast Asia

Amazing stuff!

"Labelled pots found in a 2,500-year-old embalming workshop have revealed the plant and animal extracts used to prepare ancient Egyptian mummies — including ingredients originating hundreds and even thousands of kilometres away.

Chemical analysis of the pots’ contents has identified complex mixtures of botanical resins and other substances, some of them from plants that grow as far away as southeast Asia. ...
Previously, insights into the embalming process have come from two main sources: historical texts and chemical analyses of the mummies themselves. ...
That has now changed thanks to an underground embalming workshop discovered in 2016 at Saqqara, an ancient Egyptian burial ground in use from 2900 BC or earlier. The site also includes burial chambers, and it is likely that elite members of society were interred there, the authors say. Inside the Saqqara workshop, which dates to 664–525 BC, archaeologists discovered dozens of ceramic vessels used in the embalming process, many labelled with the ingredients they contain and their use. ..."

From the abstract:

"The ability of the ancient Egyptians to preserve the human body through embalming has not only fascinated people since antiquity, but also has always raised the question of how this outstanding chemical and ritual process was practically achieved. Here we integrate archaeological, philological and organic residue analyses, shedding new light on the practice and economy of embalming in ancient Egypt. We analysed the organic contents of 31 ceramic vessels recovered from a 26th Dynasty embalming workshop at Saqqara. These vessels were labelled according to their content and/or use, enabling us to correlate organic substances with their Egyptian names and specific embalming practices. We identified specific mixtures of fragrant or antiseptic oils, tars and resins that were used to embalm the head and treat the wrappings using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analyses. Our study of the Saqqara workshop extends interpretations from a micro-level analysis highlighting the socio-economic status of a tomb owner to macro-level interpretations of the society. The identification of non-local organic substances enables the reconstruction of trade networks that provided ancient Egyptian embalmers with the substances required for mummification. This extensive demand for foreign products promoted trade both within the Mediterranean (for example, Pistacia and conifer by-products) and with tropical forest regions (for example, dammar and elemi). Additionally, we show that at Saqqara, antiu and sefet—well known from ancient texts and usually translated as ‘myrrh’ or ‘incense’ and ‘a sacred oil’—refer to a coniferous oils-or-tars-based mixture and an unguent with plant additives, respectively."

The surprising chemicals used to embalm Egyptian mummies: Resins used to prepare bodies for the afterlife are found in vessels in an ancient workshop.

Biomolecular analyses enable new insights into ancient Egyptian embalming (open access)

Fig. 5: Potential origins of imported bioresources at Saqqara complex