Mummies appeared in Egypt long before the Pharaoh era

The earliest evidence of mummification in Egypt suggests that the practice of wrapping bodies to preserve them after death began about a thousand years earlier than previously thought, a study published on Wednesday revealed.

The research, published in PLOS ONE, was the first to describe resins and linens used as burial wraps from 3350 to 4500 BC. Historians had long believed that the Egyptian practice of mummification had started around 2500 BC.

But in applying modern scientific analysis to Egyptian collections that were already in British museums, they found that by this time people were using similar preservation materials in the same proportions as those found in later mummies.

"This work demonstrates the enormous potential of the material in museum collections that allows scientists to analyze new information about the archaeological past, " said study co-author Thomas Higham of Oxford University. "Using modern scientific tools, our work has helped illuminate an important aspect of ancient Egypt's remote history, " he continued.

Experts used gas chromatography, mass spectrometry and other chemical analysis techniques to identify natural materials used to preserve corpses at the time. "These recipes consist of a 'base' of vegetable oil or animal fat, constituting the main part of 'balms', " said the study.

Smaller amounts of conifer resin, an aromatic plant extract, wax and gum or sugar were also used. "In addition, these recipes contained antibacterial agents, used in the same proportions employed by Egyptian embalmers when their ability was at its peak, between 2, 500 and 3, 000 years later, " the study said.

Scientists from the decade-long project came from the universities of York, Macquarie and Oxford. The flax fragments they examined originated from bodies buried in the remotest ancient Egyptian cemeteries recorded in Mostagedda, in the Badari region of upper Egypt.

Via In Summary