SYDNEY, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Prehistoric Egyptians were using embalming to mummify their dead well before the time of the Pharaohs, far earlier and covering a wider area than previously thought, according to latest research.
The researchers carried out unprecedented, extensive biochemical analyses on an intact prehistoric mummy, once thought to be naturally preserved by being buried in hot dry sand but discovered to have actually undergone an embalming process similar to the Egyptian mummification much later, according to an Australian Science Media Centre statement on Thursday.
"This current research categorically establishes that the ancient Egyptians developed sophisticated embalming treatments not only some 1,500 years earlier than had been previously believed, but across a wider geographical area," said Egyptologist and Macquarie University research fellow Dr. Jana Jones.
Jones was part of an international team conducting the forensic tests on the mummy. Their findings have been reported in the Journal of Archaeological Science academic publication.
The analyses showed that the mummy had gone through embalming that included a plant oil, heated conifer resin, aromatic plant extract and a plant gum/sugar mixed together and used to "impregnate" the funerary textiles in which the body was wrapped.
This "recipe" contained antibacterial agents, used in similar proportions to those employed at the peak of Egyptian mummification some 2,500 years later, and may show where classic mummification originated.
The findings provided the first evidence to suggest that the use of a complex prehistory funerary recipe was not confined to the small area that the researchers initially investigated in middle Egypt, but also likely to cover a wider expanse, although with some variation in the embalming recipe due to regional differences, said Jones.
