ArticleScientific reports2023
Biomolecular characterization of 3500-year-old ancient Egyptian mummification balms from the Valley of the Kings.
Article in Scientific reports, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Microalgal Phenolics: Systematic Review with a Focus on Methodological Assessment and Meta-Analysis.Marine drugs · 2024Pooled it
- Characterization of complex New Kingdom funerary resinous mixtures uncovers liquorice-derived substances and pine nut oil.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- An archaeo-metabolomics approach for identifying cedar tar in archaeological samples: differentiating plant products and production processes.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Comprehensive review of understanding ancient dietary habits using modern analytical techniques.Food chemistry. Molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Metabolic profiling reveals first evidence of fumigating drug plant Peganum harmala in Iron Age Arabia.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Ancient Egyptian Mummified Bodies: Cross-Disciplinary Analysis of Their Smell.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025Article
- NOMEN - A classification of methods used to create odourous compositions with a historical dimension: re-weighing, adapting, reconstructing, transposing, evoking.Open research Europe · 2025Article
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11 authors at 7 institutions in 4 countries.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Ancient Egyptian mummification was practiced for nearly 4000 years as a key feature of some of the most complex mortuary practices documented in the archaeological record. Embalming, the preservation of the body and organs of the deceased for the afterlife, was a central component of the Egyptian mummification process. Here, we combine GC-MS, HT-GC-MS, and LC-MS/MS analyses to examine mummification balms excavated more than a century ago by Howard Carter from Tomb KV42 in the Valley of the Kings. Balm residues were scraped from now empty canopic jars that once contained the mummified organs of the noble lady Senetnay, dating to the 18th dynasty, ca. 1450 BCE. Our analysis revealed balms consisting of beeswax, plant oil, fats, bitumen, Pinaceae resins, a balsamic substance, and dammar or Pistacia tree resin. These are the richest, most complex balms yet identified for this early time period and they shed light on balm ingredients for which there is limited information in Egyptian textual sources. They highlight both the exceptional status of Senetnay and the myriad trade connections of the Egyptians in the 2nd millennium BCE. They further illustrate the excellent preservation possible even for organic remains long removed from their original archaeological context.
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