embalming Archives - Biblical Archaeology Society

Unlocking the Secrets of Egyptian Mummification

Lauren McCormick — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 11:45:45 +0000

Ptolemaic period mummified individual. Courtesy Paul Hudson from United Kingdom, CC-BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Few things captivate the imagination like Egyptian mummies. Their intricate wrappings and lifelike preservation carry both religious significance and enduring mystery. A recent study focuses on something far more earthly: their smell.

Mummified remains have a distinctive musty and woody aroma, which has been shown to preserve a chemical record of ancient embalming practices. The study is showing how scientists can read that record without harming the priceless burials. Even the faintest scents from mummified remains carry a wealth of historical information, offering new ways to connect with Egypt’s ancient past without unwrapping a single bandage.

Mummification in ancient Egypt was not just a burial practice but a spiritual one. Preserving the body ensured safe passage into the afterlife. Over thousands of years, Egyptians experimented with natural materials that slow decay, including animal fats, plant oils, beeswax, resins, and, later, bitumen. Each material leaves a chemical “fingerprint,” releasing tiny molecules into the air called volatile organic compounds.

The study’s innovation lies in analyzing these compounds non-invasively. Scientists capture them on fiber waved in the air around the mummified remains. The compounds stick to the fiber and are then analyzed to identify which embalming materials were used. Instead of cutting into the remains, researchers “sniff” it chemically. The researchers report that short-chain fatty acids reveal oils, mono-carboxylic fatty acids and cinnamic compounds indicate beeswax, sesquiterpenoids point to resins, and naphthenic compounds signal bitumen.

This approach even distinguishes differences between mummified individuals from different historical periods, showing how embalming materials age over time. Some compounds degrade quickly; others persist for millennia. Understanding these patterns helps explain why two mummified individuals may smell different despite similar treatments. It also illuminates the evolution of Egyptian embalming, from simple fats and oils to complex mixtures including costly resins and bitumen.

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The study has relevance for biblical archaeology as well. Ancient Israelite custom held that corpses be washed, anointed with oils and spices, and wrapped—a process also reflected in New Testament accounts of Jesus and Lazarus. After Jesus’s crucifixion, for example, his body was washed, anointed with myrrh and aloes, and wrapped in linen before being laid in a tomb (John 19:39–40). While Israelite and early Christian practices did not involve chemical embalming, the careful washing, anointing, and wrapping reflects a similar spiritual care: honoring the deceased, masking decay, and preparing the body for what comes next.

Lauren K. McCormick is an assistant editor at Biblical Archaeology Review and a specialist in ancient Near Eastern religions, visual culture, and the Bible. She holds degrees in religion from Syracuse University, Duke University, New York University, and Rutgers University, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship on religion and the public conversation at Princeton University.

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The Egyptian “Scent of Eternity”

Nathan Steinmeyer — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 13:30:06 +0000

Limestone Canopic Jar of the Egyptian lady Senetnay. Courtesy Christian Tepper, Museum August Kestner.

Analyzing residue from two canopic jars from the 3,500-year-old tomb of an Egyptian noblewoman, a team of researchers has discovered the ingredients to an Egyptian mummification balm. The team identified over half a dozen different substances used within the balm, publishing their results in the journal Scientific Reports. Coined the “scent of eternity,” the ancient aroma will be presented at the Moesgaard Museum in Denmark in an upcoming exhibition, offering visitors a chance to catch a whiff of the ancient Egyptian mummification process.

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Smelling the Afterlife

Practiced for nearly 4,000 years, mummification is one of the most ubiquitous features of ancient Egypt, predating the pyramids by a millennium. Now, another aspect of this important practice has been unlocked—the ingredients used to preserve and scent the body for eternity.

Performing residue analysis on a pair of canopic jars dating to around 1450 BCE, an international team identified the balm as a blend of beeswax, plant oil, fats, bitumen, larch resin, a balsamic substance, and dammar or pistachio tree resin. “These complex and diverse ingredients, unique to this early period, offer a novel understanding of the sophisticated mummification practices and Egypt’s far-reaching trade routes,” said Egyptologist and museum curator Christian Loeben in a press release by the Max Planck Institute.

Among the ingredients that would have been imported to Egypt are larch resin and dammar. Larch resin is native to the northern side of the Mediterranean, around the area of the Alps. Likewise, dammar resin would have been imported from Southeast Asia along long-distance trade routes. Dammar was used for balms during the first millennium BCE, but it had not previously been identified in this context at such an early date.

The two canopic jars analyzed in the study belonged to Senetnay, the wet nurse of Pharaoh Amenhotep II (r. 1427–1401 BCE). Although Senetnay’s body was not discovered, the four canopic jars that once stored her organs were uncovered in 1900 inside her tomb in the Valley of the Kings. For the study, however, the team was only able to analyze two of the jars, those containing her lungs and liver.

The mummification process was one of the core components of Egyptian funerary procedures and served to preserve the deceased’s body in the afterlife. During this process, the individual’s organs were frequently removed and stored within canopic jars that took various forms. Those of Senetnay were crafted to look like her. Despite the mummification process being very common in ancient Egypt, few written sources provide information on the recipe for the balm, and the information that is available dates to later periods, leaving the recipe from earlier times largely unknown. Interestingly, the results from the two analyzed jars were slightly different, possibly indicating that each organ was treated individually, with different recipes used for each.

Dammar resin next to a bottle of the recreated ancient scent. Courtesy Barbara Huber.

While the balm was intended to preserve the organs, it also served the function of a perfume. Working closely with a perfumer, the team meticulously recreated the scent based on their findings, naming their perfume the “scent of eternity.” According to Barbara Huber, lead author of the study, “The scent of eternity represents more than just the aroma of the mummification process. It embodies the rich cultural, historical, and spiritual significance of ancient Egyptian mortuary practices.”

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