Ancient Egyptians' embalming recipe revealed trends now
They've been perfectly preserved for thousands of years with their facial features still distinguishable today.
Now, researchers have discovered how Egyptian mummies still look so good – and it's all to do with a carefully curated embalming recipe.
Experts have revealed ancient Egyptians were masters in chemistry and knew exactly what ingredients were needed to stop flesh from decaying.
Newly unearthed embalming recipes, used around 2,700 years ago, included tree resin, juniper and beeswax.
Some of these had been imported from as far as Southeast Asia and had important antibacterial properties, experts said.
Researchers have discovered how Egyptian mummies still look so good – and it's all to do with a carefully curated embalming recipe
An international team of researchers analysed 31 ceramic vessels that had been recovered from an embalming workshop in Saqqara – one of ancient Egypt's most important cemeteries.
The vessels, which date as far back as 664BC, were inscribed with texts providing embalming instructions such as 'to put on his head' or 'bandage with it'.
They also contained the named of embalming substances and had leftover residue of the substances themselves.
This allowed the team to understand, for the first time, what chemicals were used during mummification and how they were mixed, named and applied.
For example, they found three different mixtures which included substances such as elemi resin, Pistacia tree resin, beeswax and by-products of juniper, that were specifically used for embalming the head.
Other mixtures were used for washing the body or softening the skin.
The authors also showed that many of the embalming substances came from far outside Egypt – for instance, Pistacia and juniper products were probably imported from the Mediterranean region, and elemi resins may have been from rainforests in Southeast Asia.
An international team of researchers analysed 31 ceramic vessels that had been recovered from an embalming workshop in Saqqara – one of ancient Egypt's most important cemeteries
Dr Maxime Rageot, one of the authors from the University of Tubingen in Germany, said: 'The embalmer has used some substances which could be important both for anti-fungal and anti-microbial properties.
'These are helpful for example, to preserve the human tissue and reduce some
