Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
displaying the acquired image. In archaeological studies, imaging tech-
niques may reveal three-dimensional images of otherwise unaccessible
parts of human or animal remains, of ancient objects or structures, and
even of unexcavated sites (Hornak 2002). Imaging science is a relatively
new and rapidly evolving technology that explores new imaging tech-
niques and strives to gain a better understanding of the images obtained
by such techniques (Doucet 2003; Saxby 2001).
Such methods also make it possible to learn about the state of health of
the dead before death, the diseases from which they suffered, their age at
the time of death, the method used for their mummification, and even the
cultural environment in which they lived and were mummified (Cockburn
et al. 1998; Harris and Wente 1980). The conception and development of the
polymerase chain reaction (PCR) at the end of the twentieth century made
it also possible to study the genetic characteristics of the mummies and of
the populations to which they belonged (see Textbox 65).
Embalming was practiced in Egypt as far back as the early fourth mil-
lennium B.C.E., although the basic requirements of the embalming process
became well understood only much later; it was only about the middle of
the sixteenth century B.C.E., that embalming became proficient. The actual
process of embalming varied according to the prominence or wealth of the
deceased person. The first stage of a typical Egyptian embalming process
was
dehydration
of the corpse; this was usually brought about by one of two
methods: either (1) exposing the corpse for a period of time (lasting several
weeks) to the heat of the sun on the desert sand, or (2) treating it with
natron,
a mixture of salts that absorbs water and also serves as a mild sterilizer that
furthers the preservation process. Natron is a natural mixture of salts that
occur in the beds of dry lakes in the Egyptian desert. Its major components
are soda (sodium carbonate) and sodium bicarbonate together with minor
amounts of common salt (sodium chloride) and sodium sulfate. Using solid
natron provided the most convenient procedure to dehydrate and preserve
corpses. Sometimes, however, corpses were soaked in a solution of natron,
in water. The latter approach required relatively large containers as, for
example, the one used, to dehydrate the corpse of the mother of King Cheops
(her corpse, still soaked in a solution of natron, was discovered after many
millennia inside a large stone vessel). After dehydration, corpses in the
process of mummification underwent some treatment, such as removal of
