Scientists have identified the aromatic ancient recipe that preserved an Egyptian noblewoman mummified around 1450 BC and meticulously recreated the 'scent of eternity'.

Advances in chemical analysis technology have made it possible to identify individual substances in the balm residue in the once sealed canopic jars in which mummified organs were stored.

In ancient Egypt, mummification was the ultimate art form for preserving the dearly departed for around 4000 years, part of the complex burial practices we know thanks to the artefacts left behind.

Although the Egyptian texts are fascinating, there are very few written sources addressing this sacred process, leaving us in the dark about the details of the recipe.

"The 'scent of eternity' represents more than the aroma of the mummification process," says archaeologist Barbara Huber from Germany's Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology.

"It embodies the rich cultural, historical and spiritual significance of funeral practices in ancient Egypt."

The elite status of this noblewoman, who served as the wet nurse of Pharaoh Amenhotep II, was evident from her title 'Adornment of the King' and her presence in a royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings. This was echoed in the complexity of the ointments that preserved her organs in four separate jars.

The ancient figure, called Senetnay, revealed a mystery that had been waiting to be solved since the pottery was excavated in 1900 AD.

Huber and his colleagues used a combination of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to analyse six balsam samples taken from two jars that once stored Senetnay's lungs and liver. The results reveal balsams with a more detailed composition than those used on other mummies from the same period.

According to Huber and his team, beeswax, vegetable oils, rich animal fats, naturally occurring bitumen and resins from coniferous trees are the secrets of his well-preserved mummy. With an aromatic touch, they also found coumarin, a compound of plant origin that gives the mixture a pleasant vanilla-like odour.

The authors write: "Previous analyses suggest that ancient Egyptian mummification balsams contained limited amounts of ingredients before the Third Intermediate Period (ca. 1000 BC) and became more complex over time."

The team also discovered variation in the proportions of substances in each of the jars containing Senetnay's organs. And the jar containing Senetnay's lungs contained two ingredients not found in the other, a one-of-a-kind mixture, indicating that the mixture was tailored to individual organs.

In keeping with the characteristics of a woman of high rank, it seems that many ingredients in Senetnay's balm had to be transported from exotic places outside Egypt.

One unique lung-softening substance is larixol, derived from the resin of larch conifers. Another odourous resin identified is probably dammar from dipterocarp trees found in India and Southeast Asia, or a resin from Pistacia trees native to the Mediterranean coast.

"These complex and varied ingredients, typical of this early period, offer new insight into complex mummification practices and Egypt's extensive trade routes," says Egyptologist Christian Loeben of the August Kestner Museum in Germany.

As the samples are 3,500 years old, the researchers cannot rule out the possibility that deterioration processes or uneven mixing or distribution of the balsam may have caused differences in content between the jars. However, other recent mummification findings support the hypothesis of organ-specific recipes.

"Analytical chemistry can shed considerable light on the identification of the constituents found in ancient balsams and contribute significantly to the knowledge that can be derived from ancient textual sources," the team writes.

An upcoming exhibition at Denmark's Moesgaard Museum will feature the recreated ancient aroma, giving visitors a rare chance to go back in time.

 

Source: https://www.sciencealert.com/