Another amazing thing about ancient Egyptian civilization
It wasn't until the time of the Egyptian Pharaohs that mummification was discovered. The recipe for preserving mummies was 1,500 years earlier.
Dr. Jana Jones, Department of Ancient History, Macquarie University, Australia and colleagues have just published the results of the group's analysis of a prehistoric Egyptian corpse.
The mummy is kept in a museum in Turin, Italy.
The mummy, which dates back to around 3,700 to 3,500 BC, has been kept in a museum in Turin, Italy, since 1901 and is still in excellent condition. Until now, it was thought that mummification was not practiced until the time of the Pharaohs. However, the analysis has provided convincing evidence that the Egyptians were mummifying bodies 1,500 years earlier.
Previously, it was thought that this man's body had naturally dried out due to being buried in the hot, dry desert sand, but now we can confirm that the body was preserved.
Together with several other studies, this information tells us that ancient Egyptians who lived 1,500 years or more before the time of the Pharaohs had knowledge of the process of preserving bodies and performed religious rituals related to the belief in the afterlife.
Some old clues
Some previous studies by the group have also analyzed the phenomenon of burial before funeral rituals of prehistoric people in some places of Central Egypt, who lived long before the time of the Pharaohs and knew some techniques of body preservation.
These studies report that many prehistoric corpses (about 4,500 – 3,350 BC) excavated in Badari and Mostagedda were buried with small bags containing seeds made from tree resin.
This suggests that people at that time used tree resin as a rudimentary method of embalming. The resin here is extracted from a number of trees, specifically pine resin, and is a preservative, mixed into the mixture used for embalming.
The older studies did not have access to whole bodies for testing, but only fragments of linen used for embalming and kept in British museums. The fragments were donated to the museum by the excavators and are the only surviving evidence that the bodies were wrapped.
The team found resin in the pieces of fabric. However, they had no further samples to expand their research until today, when they studied the human remains found in Turin.
Preparing for the afterlife
The basic principle of mummification of the ancient Egyptians was to preserve the body so that the deceased could be reincarnated in the next life. If a person was unfortunately bitten off a leg by a crocodile, a wooden prosthetic leg would be fitted to complete the body.
Wrapped bodies from prehistoric sites were not often examined carefully during excavations, as in the 19th and early 20th centuries people were only interested in the artifacts buried with the bodies. Furthermore, there is no reason to believe that prehistoric Egyptians used any preservative balms on their dead.
Like the British, the Italians also carried out excavations to obtain artifacts for their Museo Egizio. The most famous archaeologist was probably Ernesto Schiaparelli, director of the museum from 1895 to 1928.
Mr. Schiaparelli continued to make several trips to Egypt to excavate and purchase mummies and burial objects from antiquities dealers, including the prehistoric mummies that Dr. Jones's team had just come across to study.
Embalming recipe
In 2014, Dr. Jones's team, along with an international team of experts, conducted a study of the mummy. They took small pieces of fabric and skin for biochemical analysis, radiocarbon dating, textile analysis, and bacterial DNA analysis.
Since its arrival in the museum in 1901, the mummy has not been chemically preserved, meaning it has suffered little or no chemical contamination or damage, making it an ideal specimen for scientific study. Chemical analysis of samples of the shroud taken from the torso and wrists has found vegetable or animal oils, pine resins, and plant fragrances.
Resin and incense are the two main antibacterial agents used to repel insects and preserve soft tissues. Cloth was dipped in a mixture of melted resin and incense and then used to wrap the body.
Special skills of the Egyptians
Radiocarbon dating of linen samples from the burial revealed that the mummy was around 3,700–3,500 BC. The fabric was spun using traditional Egyptian linen weaving techniques from around 5,000–3,600 BC.
Microbiological analysis found no pathogenic DNA, possibly because pathogenic bacteria cannot survive in the environmental conditions in Egypt or in museums. Therefore, we do not know whether the person died of disease or not. In addition, the extremely fragile and fragile condition of the mummy did not allow it to be moved for radiological analysis.
Taken together with previous studies, the new findings from this complete mummy tell us that prehistoric Egyptians had knowledge of body preservation processes as well as a belief system that was so developed that it included a theory of reincarnation.
They were able to find and obtain resin from the Eastern Mediterranean, suggesting that long-distance trade was possible. Some burials 200 km away from the mummy's burial site also contained similar ingredients in their embalming wax.
These materials continued to be used until the time of the pharaohs, when the art of embalming reached its peak, some 2,500 years later. This truly shows that the talent of the ancient Egyptians was passed on despite the conditions of time and nature.
