An Integrated Study of the Hair Coating of Ancient Egyptian Mummies

Abstract

We determined the composition of the hair coating of three ancient Egyptian mummies dating from the 1st millennium BC from the collection of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts using a complex of analytical methods: optical microscopy, IR spectroscopy, gas chromatography, and mass spectrometry. In ancient Egypt, unique embalming compositions were used to coat hair, different from those for embalming mummies themselves. The formulation of embalming compositions for coating hair of the three investigated mummies included beef tallow, castor oil, beeswax, and pine resin obtained by the dry distillation of wood. Aromatic pistachio tree oil was also added to the composition of balsamic hair coating of two of the three mummies.

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