Ancient Meat Mummies Wrapped and Embalmed Using Organic Compounds [VIDEO]

Mummified meats discovered in Egyptian tombs were treated with balms in order to preserve them for a long period, according to a latest study.

Mummification was central to the ancient Egyptian religious practices and not only humans but also a wide variety of animals and artifacts were packed in the royal tombs to make their afterlife journey easier.

Victual mummies are basically pieces of meat or poultry that were wrapped and placed in the tombs for the deceased to be consumed in the afterlife. Many such meat cuts were discovered with the mummies. The oldest mummified cuts of meat dates back to 3300 B.C. and the tradition continued till the fourth century A.D.

King Tutankhamun's mummy was found buried along with 48 cases of beef and poultry.

Scientists always wondered if the preservation process for the humans, animals and these cold cuts was similar or different.  Richard Evershed along with his colleagues from the University of Bristol solved this puzzle after carefully examining the chemical composition of the tissue samples of the meats and bandages that were retrieved from four different preserved meats.

The four samples consisted of cattle ribs dated between 1386 B.C. and 1349 B.C. that were recovered from the tombs of Tjuiu, an Egyptian noblewoman and her courtier Yuya; the second one was the meat of a calf dated between 1064 B.C. and 948 B.C. that was taken from the tomb of Isetemkheb D- wife and sister to a high priest in Thebes. The last two were duck meat and a piece resembling goat meat, found in the tomb of a Theban priestess, Henutmehyt, who died around 1290 B.C., reports LiveScience.

The chemical analysis revealed that the calf and the goat mummies were wrapped in bandages of animal fat and they found no traces of wax or resins. The fat on the bandages was not in direct contact with the meat, indicating it was used as a preservative and was not something that cropped from the meat. The animal fat derived compounds on the bandage were not present on the mummified duck sample. They discovered a very interesting chemical compound on the beef mummy sample. It had remains of a balm made from fat or oil and also had resins from the Pistacia tree sap. In ancient Egypt this resin was considered a luxury item.

Sources suggest that it was used as varnish on superior quality coffins and also as incense. But until 600 years after the death of Tjuiu and Yuya, it was not included as a compound for human mummification.

The findings were documented on Nov. 18 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.