Embalming scene in an underground chamber Nikola Nevenov
DECRYPTION – The chemical analysis of ceramic containers discovered in an Egyptian embalming workshop helps to understand the secrets of mummification.
What is the recipe for eternal youth? Ancient Egypt is surely the civilization that has come closest to it, as some of their mummies still seem alive even though they have been watching us for more than forty centuries. In 2016, a team of archaeologists led by the Egyptian Ramadan Hussein, who died last spring, unearthed a sumptuous embalming workshop on the site of Saqqara, a few kilometers south of Cairo, one of the most emblems of ancient Egypt. In particular, it is home to a huge necropolis which extends over nearly 20 km, not far from the ancient capital of Memphis.
Three years later, a team led by Maxime Rageot, researcher in biomolecular archeology at the University of Tubingue, in Germany, publishes the results of their analyzes ins review Nature . «This work was eagerly awaited.comments the Egyptologist and CNRS archaeologist Claude Rilly. The discovery of this workshop had aroused enormous enthusiasm. For…
This article is for subscribers only. You have 83% left to discover.
Want to read more?
Unlock all items immediately. Without engagement.
Already subscribed? Login