Recipes and ingredients for ancient Egyptian mummification

Ikram, Salima

doi:10.1038/d41586-023-00094-1

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01 February 2023

Recipes and ingredients for ancient Egyptian mummification

What ingredients and processes underlay mummification in ancient Egypt? The molecular analysis of labelled pots excavated from an embalming workshop provides some answers to this question.

Salima Ikram⁰

Salima Ikram
1. Salima Ikram is in the Department of Sociology, Egyptology and Anthropology, The American University in Cairo, New Cairo 11835, Egypt.
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Ancient Egyptian mummies have gripped the popular imagination from ancient times to the present day, as attested to by the many books, films and exhibitions that feature them. Yet the precise methods and materials used for mummification remain relatively unknown. Writing in Nature, Rageot et al.¹ present chemical, archaeological and written analyses of the contents and hieratic (joined-up hieroglyphs) labels of 35 vessels excavated from an embalming workshop and a burial chamber. These are from the necropolis at Saqqara (Fig. 1), one of the principal burial grounds in Egypt, which has been used since at least 2900 bc. The excavated material, which dates to approximately 664–525 bc, substantially furthers our understanding of this complex technique and the substances involved in preserving the dead, as well as shedding light on the socio-economic implications of this practice.

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Nature 614, 229-230 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00094-1

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