Ancient Egyptian Mummies embalmed with exotic resins from Southeast Asia

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Chemicals used to embalm Egyptian mummies 2,500 years ago have been revealed, including botanical resins and substances originating from southeast Asia, according to a study in Nature.

A team of Egyptian and German researchers analyzed complex mixtures found in pots in an underground embalming workshop at Saqqara, an ancient burial ground, and discovered that substances such as elemi and dammar were used, originating from trees in rainforests and tropical forests in southern India and southeast Asia, respectively.

The discovery sheds new light on the sophistication of ancient Egyptian embalmers and their knowledge of properties of raw materials.