A team of scientists from the UK, Australia, Italy, France and Germany published the results of a study, according to which the practice of mummification of the dead appeared in Ancient Egypt much earlier than it was believed. Signs of the use of mummifying substances have been found on remains that date back to around 3600 BC, which is the so-called pre-dynastic period in Egyptian history.
It is generally believed that the mummification of the dead appeared in Egypt during the 2nd Dynasty (about 2800 BC), and a complete technology, including the extraction of the entrails of the deceased, the treatment of his body with various mineral and plant substances and wrapping in linen, has arisen. later, during the 4th Dynasty (about 2600 BC). This practice became quite widespread only during the Middle Kingdom (about 2000 - 1600 BC).
In earlier times, the Egyptians simply buried their dead in shallow graves, without subjecting their bodies to special processing. In a similar way, many of the dead were buried in later eras, since the poor people of Egypt did not have the means for a more expensive ritual. Dry air and desert sand caused the body to lose water and “mummify” naturally, without human intervention. Such cases include, for example, the so-called "Gebelein mummies" - six bodies found in 1896 by the British Egyptologist Wallis Budge in a burial place near Bahr-Bila-Ma, near the city of Gebelein. They date back to around 3400 BC. e. and are now in the British Museum.
One of the Gobelein mummies (adult male EA 32751). An example of natural mummification.
Back in the 1990s, Jana Jones of the Australian Macquarie University, studying under a microscope some tissues from pre-dynastic burials, noticed traces of a substance similar to resin on the fibers. Then she suggested that this is evidence of the first experiments of the Egyptians to embalm the dead. But visual observations were not enough to prove this hypothesis. It took ten years to find more serious arguments.
In 2014, a group of scientists led by Jana Jones published in PLOS One a study of tissue fragments from Egyptian burials from Mostagedd in the El Badari region of southern Egypt. Burials date back to 4500 - 3350 BC. e - the late Neolithic, the so-called Badarian culture, to which the "Gebelein mummies" belong. They were found back in the 1920s and are kept in the Bolton Museum in the UK. It was believed that these remains were subjected only to natural mummification.
The authors of the work examined the tissues in which the bodies were wrapped using gas chromatography, mass spectrometry and thermal desorption methods. As a result, it was found that the fabric was impregnated with pine resin, aromatic plant extracts, gum and bitumen before use. The antibacterial properties of many of these components and their use in later burial practices of the Pharaonic era led scientists to assume that representatives of the Badarian culture had already begun experiments on preserving the bodies of the dead, which eventually gave rise to the practice of embalming in ancient Egypt.
Residues of resin on tissue fibers under a light microscope (burial 3528, Mostagedda, Badarian culture).
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Jana Jones noted that such wraps are not typical for all burials in Mostagedda, but only for some, which are also accompanied by the richest set of burial offerings. Perhaps they belong to powerful and wealthy people from the local community.
The current work, also led by Jana Jones, examined the remains of RCGE 16550 from the Egyptian Museum in Turin. The body lay on its left side in the embryo position typical of the burials of pre-dynastic Egypt. Fragments of linen were preserved on the back, shoulders, right forearm, palms of the pelvic region, and lower extremities, which indicates that during the burial the whole body was wrapped in cloth. The fibers from the reed mat also adhered to the feet.
The place of the find is unknown. The museum's archives contain records that the Egyptologist Ernesto Schiaparelli (1856-1928) bought these remains from an unnamed merchant in early 1901, along with a collection of "prehistoric" items. Also, archival records indicate that Schiaparelli usually bought objects of the pre-dynastic period in Luxor and Kena, where his frequent supplier was the seller of antiquities, Tanios Girgis, who also obtained his goods from Gebelein. It remains unclear whether the artifacts attached to the body (arrows, a basket with fragments of tissue, an ostrich skin bag, sandals made of plant fibers) were part of the burial complex or they are of independent origin.
The body of RCGE 16550 is considered the oldest mummy in the museum and, as previously believed, the mummification in this case was purely natural. At the same time, a detailed study or museum preservation of the body of RCGE 16550 has not been carried out until the current study.
Remains of RCGE 16550 at the Egyptian Museum of Turin.
The work included microscopic analysis of tissue from the body, radiocarbon dating, chemical analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and thermal desorption and pyrolysis of tissue samples, as well as the identification of DNA from pathogenic bacteria from a fragment of skin (they were not eventually detected were). It turned out to be impossible to conduct an X-ray examination of the skeleton to clarify the sex, age and possible causes of death, since due to the fragility of the body it could not be moved. Examination of the teeth made it possible to conclude that the deceased was between twenty and thirty years old.
Radiocarbon dating allowed the remains to be dated to 3700 - 3500 BC. e. (Amrat - Herzean culture, Nakada IA-IIB). Chemical analysis, as in the case of the remains from the Bolton Museum, showed that the fabric was the resin of conifers, vegetable oils and aromatic plant extracts that were included in the recipes of the embalmers of Ancient Egypt after millennia, when their skill reached its prime.
According to Jones and her colleagues, linen burial ribbons were immersed in a viscous embalming composition before they were wrapped around the deceased, or they were smeared onto the tissue directly on the body. Then, when the remains were in dry hot sand, the combination of external conditions and antibacterial properties of the substance applied to the tissue ensured the safety of the body. One of the authors of the work, Stephen A. Buckley of the Department of Archeology at the University of York, believes that the ingredients may originally have had a symbolic meaning, but over time the Egyptians noticed and began to deliberately use their preservative properties.
The results of the study are presented in an article published by the Journal of Archaeological Science.