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The Art of Mummy Making
Mummies Owe Their Afterlife to Resourceful Embalmers
 Listen to NPR's Allison Aubrey report on mummy making.
Oct. 26, 2001 -- Egyptian mummies can attribute their incredible longevity to the skill of their embalmers, whose job it was to preserve the bodies for eternity. Just how sophisticated these Egyptian undertakers were is revealed in a paper published in the journal Nature this week. NPR's Allison Aubrey reports for Morning Edition.
Embalming was such big business in ancient Egypt that embalmers formed their own trade unions. These professionals spent 70 days with a typical client -- and they kept their methods a closely guarded secret.
These secrets have remained hidden because so many tombs were looted by robbers or opened by less-than-scientific archaeologists. Private collectors are known for acquiring mummies and then holding an unwrapping in the drawing room, says Geoffrey Spencer, a curator of the mummy collection at the British Museum of London. Two years ago, he gave in to a determined Ph.D. student who convinced him he could uncover valuable information from the mummies -- without harming them.
Using a process known as mass spectrometry, University of Bristol researcher Stephen Buckley needed just a few tiny samples from each body to fuel his studies.
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Evolution of Embalming in Egypt
Predynastic, 5000 B.C.: Naturally desiccated bodies.
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Old Kingdom, 2663 B.C.: Plaster-wrapped mummies, evisceration introduced (fourth dynasty).
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Middle Kingdom, 2066 B.C.: Cartonnage masks made of linen and plaster introduced.
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New Kingdom, 1549 B.C.: Removal of brain through the nose. Lavish use of resins.
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Third Intermediate, 1064 B.C.: Height of embalmer's art (21st dynasty).
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Hellenistic, 332 B.C.: Embalming declines.
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Roman, 30 B.C.: Elaborate wrappings, face portraits.
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Ancient Egyptians believed the soul could not survive in the afterlife if it didn't recognize its body. And through chemical analysis, Buckley discovered how the Egyptian embalmers worked. It turns out they used plant oils and resins with anti-microbial properties, such as Pistacia tree resin and balsam sap. These substances killed bacteria that would have decomposed the bodies. Buckley's findings reveal the Egyptians had a surprising level of scientific sophistication.
And clearly, these guilds of embalmers improved their techniques over time. Buckley sampled 13 mummies spanning a period of 2,000 years, and for the first time was able to give a detailed account of the different embalming substances.
"It's important because by finding out what material was used when, we can find more out about changing practices in Egypt," says University of Illinois researcher Sarah Wisseman.
For instance, Buckley says it seems the embalmers came to understand the different powers of the substances they used and even employed antibiotics. And for that reason, Buckley is planning further studies in the hope that modern chemistry will reveal even more about life and death in ancient Egypt.
In Depth
• Click here for other NPR stories on mummies.
Other Resources
• Search the British Museum's Web site for pictures of ancient Egyptian artifacts.
• Investigate the British Museum's ancient Egyptian collection, one of the largest in the world.
• Visit the journal Nature online.
• For more about archaeometry, a discipline that unites natural and physical sciences to reconstruct history, visit the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Ancient Technologies and Archaeological Materials site.
• The Society for Archaeological Sciences provides a forum for scholars applying methods from physcial sciences to archaeology.
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