Zee Media Bureau\Philaso G Kaping
Washington: Ancient Egyptians not only mummified their dead, they also mummified cuts of meat for the deceased to enjoy in the afterlife.
The interment of these “meat mummies” was quite common in ancient Egyptian burials but little was known about the treatment to preserve them.
According to a new study published by the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences, the mummification process was elaborate and expensive balm was used to coat the bandages.
A team of scientists from the University of Bristol and the American University in Cairo studied samples of goat, calf, duck and beef ribs from the Cairo Museum and British Museum. They found that different recipes were used for different meat mummies. But the most impressive find was the use of Pistacia resin, a very expensive substance rarely used in human mummification, to coat the beef ribs wraps.
The beef rib mummy is from the tomb of the parents of Queen Tiye, the wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep III.
