Museum-goers to be transported back to 1450BC by odours of oils, resins and beeswax with which noblewoman, Senetnay, embalmed
Museum-goers are to be transported back more than 3,500 years in a sniff after researchers identified and recreated the scent of balms used in the mummification of an ancient Egyptian noblewoman.
However, with a dearth of texts from ancient Egypt revealing the exact ingredients used, scientists have been using modern analyses to unpick the substances involved. “Senetnay’s mummification balm stands out as one of the most intricate and complex balms from that era,” said Barbara Huber, the first author of the research from the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology., the team say Senetnay lived around 1450BC and was a wet nurse to Pharaoh Amenhotep II.
Huber and colleagues analysed six samples of residues of the mummification balms from inside two jars that that had once contained Senetnay’s lungs and liver, as indicated by hieroglyphic inscriptions.The team found the balms contained a complex mix of ingredients, including fats and oils, beeswax, bitumen, resins from trees of the pine family, a substance called coumarin that has a vanilla-like scent, and benzoic acid, which can be found in many plant sources including cinnamon and cloves.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Museum of London identifies man who raised alarm over Great FireExhibition at museum’s new site will focus on Thomas Dagger and other ordinary Londoners caught up in 1666 inferno
Read more »
Get your own art detective! My simple solution for the British Museum fiascoMuseums don’t win awards or get rave reviews for their security systems – but they should. I have seen for myself how lax British Museum security was. It needs to stop living in a fantasy world
Read more »
‘Who gets remembered and why?’: the exhibition asking uneasy questions about the Atlantic slave tradeBlack Atlantic at Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam museum explores how Britain’s role in slavery can be seen through its fine art. Rather than giving easy answers, reflection is its aim
Read more »
Stone age Dartmoor viewpoint uncovered by archaeologistsSpot where ancient people scanned the landscape for prey is now farmland near the Devon village of Lustleigh
Read more »