To what Extent did the Ancient Egyptians Employ Bitumen for Embalming

Analysis of an egyptian mummy resin by mass spectrometry

“…As the material ages, the more volatile components are lost and it undergoes substantial chemical oxidation to produce a semisolid mass. The use of bitumen by the Egyptians in mummification is not universally accepted [11a]; however, evidence of its use in several Persian and Roman period mummies has been documented [18][19][20]. Table 2 shows the GC/MS data obtained for the neutral fraction of our mummy resin, where several n-alkanes with chain lengths of 19 to 33 carbons were in the neutral fraction of a resin sample and concluded from their distribution that petroleum was added to the pine pitch.…”

“…Bitumen contains several trace metals that are not leached out with aging. The metals most characteristic of bitumen are nickel and vanadium; however, molybdenum has also been indicated [19]. Marschner and Wright [23] found Ni levels ranging from 10 to 200 ppm and V levels of 30 to 300 ppm in several natural bitumens from Mesopotamian sites, while Benson et a!'…”

Insight into the structure of black coatings of ancient Egyptian mummies by advanced Electron magnetic resonance of vanadyl complexes

“…However, the presence or not of bitumen in these black materials has been the subject of a long controversy due to the fact that the analytical protocols used were often not well-adapted to the detection of bitumen, so that two opposite opinions have emerged among researchers analyzing these black coatings: those who did not believe in the presence of bitumen, [5][6][7] and those who claimed its presence. 1,[8][9][10][11][12] With the detection of specific biomarkers (hopanes, steranes) and radiocarbon analyses (bitumen has lost its 14 C), a consensus has recently emerged on the increasing presence of bitumen in embalming materials from the New Kingdom (ca 1550-1070 BC) to the Ptolemaïc/Roman period ending in the 4th century AD. 3 Despite the inestimable contribution of GC-MS for revealing the composition of these black coatings, this microdestructive technique requires preliminary steps of fractionation and separation, which exclude any direct, non-destructive identification of bitumen, so that structural information on this black material cannot be obtained at the nanometer scale.…”

Insight into the structure of black coatings of ancient Egyptian mummies by advanced EPR spectroscopy of vanadyl complexes.

“…However, the presence or not of bitumen in these black materials has been the subject of a long controversy due to the fact that the analytical protocols used were often not well-adapted to the detection of bitumen, so that two opposite opinions have emerged among researchers analyzing these black coatings: those who did not believe in the presence of bitumen, [5][6][7] and those who claimed its presence. 1,[8][9][10][11][12] With the detection of specific biomarkers (hopanes, steranes) and radiocarbon analyses (bitumen has lost its 14 C), a consensus has recently emerged on the increasing presence of bitumen in embalming materials from the New Kingdom (ca 1550-1070 BC) to the Ptolemaïc/Roman period ending in the 4th century AD. 3 Despite the inestimable contribution of GC-MS for revealing the composition of these black coatings, this microdestructive technique requires preliminary steps of fractionation and separation, which exclude any direct, non-destructive identification of bitumen, so that structural information on this black material cannot be obtained at the nanometer scale.…”