Media Briefing/Press Conference
From: Australian Science Media CentrePrehistoric Egyptians were using embalming to mummify their dead well before the time of the Pharaohs, far earlier and across a wider geographical area than had been previously known, according to new Australian and international research. It is the first time that extensive tests have been carried out on an intact prehistoric mummy, consolidating the researchers’ previous findings that embalming was taking place 1,500 years earlier than previously accepted.
Dr Jones (Jana, not Indiana) from Macquarie University is part of an international team which carried out the forensic tests on the prehistoric mummy, once thought to be just naturally preserved from being buried in hot dry sand. The results reveal the mummy had in fact undergone an embalming process, with a plant oil, heated conifer resin, an aromatic plant extract and a plant gum/sugar mixed together and used to impregnate the funerary textiles in which the body was wrapped. The '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.
Speakers:
- Dr Jana Jones is an Egyptologist and Research Fellow at Macquarie University
Join the Briefing:
Date: Wed 15 August 2018
Start Time: 10:00am AEST
Duration: Approx 45 min
Venue: Online
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