Oldest Known Mummification Manual Reveals How Egyptians Embalmed the Face
Prior to the find, researchers had only identified two ancient texts detailing the enigmatic preservation process
Egyptian?mummies?have fascinated the public for centuries. But until recently, researchers had only identified two ancient documents detailing the embalming process. Now, reports Amanda Kooser for?CNET, a newly discovered,?3,500-year-old manual?may shed more light on mummification’s mysteries.
Per a?statement,?Sofie Schi?dt, an Egyptologist at the?University of Copenhagen, uncovered the guide while translating a portion of the Papyrus Louvre-Carlsberg for her?doctoral thesis. The nearly 20-foot-long manuscript, which focuses mainly on herbal medicine and skin conditions, contains a short section outlining embalming methods, including how to preserve a dead person’s face.
“The text reads like a memory aid, so the intended readers must have been specialists who needed to be reminded of these details, such as unguent recipes and uses of various types of bandages,” says Schi?dt in the statement. “Some of the simpler processes, [for example] the drying of the body with natron, have been omitted from the text.”
The second-longest ancient Egyptian?medical papyrus, the Papyrus Louvre-Carlsberg dates back to 1450 B.C., making it older than comparable mummification manuals by more than 1,000 years. As Mindy Weisberger writes for?Live Science, Schi?dt translated the double-sided text using high-resolution photographs, which helped streamline the process.
“This way we can move displaced fragments around digitally, as well as enhance colors to better read passages where the ink is not so well-preserved,” she tells?Live Science. “It also aids in reading difficult signs when you can zoom in on the high-res photos.”
Previous research on the ancient medical text has been complicated by the fact that it’s split into multiple pieces. One is housed in the university’s?Papyrus Carlsberg Collection, while another is held at the?Louvre?Museum in Paris. These two segments were previously housed in private collections, and the whereabouts of several other sections of the papyrus remain unknown, according to the statement.
Among the insights offered by the newly identified manual is a list of ingredients for a plant-based embalming concoction used to coat pieces of red linen.
“The red linen is then applied to the dead person’s face in order to encase it in a protective cocoon of fragrant and anti-bacterial matter,” says Schi?dt in the statement.
Brooke Taylor of?CTV News?reports that this process—like many covered in the manual—was repeated every four days. In between these intervals, embalmers would cloak the corpse with cloth and aromatics-infused straw to keep insects and scavengers at bay.
The entire mummification procedure took 70 days to complete, with the first 35 days focused on dehydrating the body and the next 35 on wrapping it.
According to the?Smithsonian Institution, specially trained priests began by removing the brain, stomach, liver and other organs (aside from the heart, which was left in place as “the center of a person’s being and intelligence”). Next, they dried out the body with a type of salt called?natron?before encasing it in layers of linen and resin. The face embalming process took place during this second wrapping period, notes the statement.
On the 68th day, workers placed the mummy in a coffin; the final two days of the process were dedicated to rituals that facilitated the deceased’s safe journey to the afterlife.
As Joshua J. Mark pointed out for?World History Encyclopedia?in 2017, medical papyrus scrolls like the recently discovered one often had two sides—the?recto?(front) and the?verso?(the back). Scribes would record most information on the front of the scroll but had the option of including additional details, or even other texts entirely, on the back. The ancient Egyptians typically preserved these manuscripts in the Per-Ankh, a section of temples that doubled as both a library and learning center.
The Louvre and the University of Copenhagen plan to jointly publish their respective fragments of the papyrus in 2022.
最古老的木乃伊手冊(cè)揭示了埃及人是如何將臉部防腐的
在發(fā)現(xiàn)之前视粮，研究人員只發(fā)現(xiàn)了兩部古籍秒际，詳細(xì)介紹了神秘的保存過程。
古代的防腐者將一塊紅色的亞麻布浸泡在一種植物性的混合物中壹将，然后將布涂在死者的臉上赊颠。
圖?
(Ida Christensen /哥本哈根大學(xué))作者：Isis Davis-MarksSMITHSONIANMAG.COMMARCH 5颁督，2021渣触。
幾個(gè)世紀(jì)以來，埃及木乃伊一直吸引著公眾蟋字。但直到最近稿蹲，研究人員才發(fā)現(xiàn)了兩份詳細(xì)介紹防腐過程的古代文件。現(xiàn)在鹊奖，Amanda Kooser為CNET報(bào)道苛聘，一份新發(fā)現(xiàn)的、有3500年歷史的手冊(cè)可能會(huì)給木乃伊化的奧秘帶來更多啟示忠聚。
根據(jù)一份聲明设哗，哥本哈根大學(xué)的埃及學(xué)家Sofie Schi?dt在為她的博士論文翻譯一部分盧浮宮-嘉士伯的Papyrus Louvre-Carlsberg時(shí)發(fā)現(xiàn)了這份指南两蟀。這份近20英尺長(zhǎng)的手稿主要關(guān)注草藥和皮膚病，其中有一小部分概述了防腐方法垫竞，包括如何保存死者的臉。
"文字讀起來就像一個(gè)記憶輔助工具欢瞪，所以預(yù)定的讀者一定是需要被提醒這些細(xì)節(jié)的專家活烙，比如unguent配方和各種類型繃帶的用途遣鼓，"Schi?dt在聲明中說。"一些較簡(jiǎn)單的過程骑祟，[例如]用納特隆干燥身體回懦，已經(jīng)從文本中省略了。"
作為第二長(zhǎng)的古埃及醫(yī)學(xué)紙莎草紙次企，盧浮宮-卡爾斯堡紙莎草紙的歷史可以追溯到公元前1450年怯晕，這使得它比同類木乃伊手冊(cè)要早1000多年。正如Mindy Weisberger為L(zhǎng)ive Science所寫的那樣缸棵，Schi?dt使用高分辨率的照片翻譯了雙面文字舟茶，這有助于簡(jiǎn)化這一過程。
"這樣一來堵第，我們可以用數(shù)字方式移動(dòng)流離失所的碎片吧凉，以及增強(qiáng)顏色，以便更好地閱讀墨水保存不那么好的段落踏志，"她告訴Live Science阀捅。"當(dāng)你可以放大高分辨率的照片時(shí)，它也有助于閱讀困難的標(biāo)志针余。"
以前對(duì)古代醫(yī)學(xué)文本的研究一直很復(fù)雜饲鄙，因?yàn)樗环指畛啥鄠€(gè)部分。其中一段存放在該大學(xué)的Papyrus Carlsberg收藏館圆雁，而另一段則存放在巴黎盧浮宮博物館傍妒。據(jù)聲明稱，這兩段紙莎草紙此前被私人收藏摸柄，其他幾段紙莎草紙的下落仍然不明颤练。
近20英尺長(zhǎng)的紙莎草紙卷軸的一個(gè)片段（哥本哈根大學(xué)卡爾斯伯格紙莎草紙收藏）。
在新確定的手冊(cè)所提供的見解中驱负，有一份用于涂抹紅色亞麻布片的植物防腐混合物的成分清單嗦玖。
Schi?dt在聲明中說："然后將紅色亞麻布涂抹在死者的臉上，以便將其包裹在芳香和抗菌物質(zhì)的保護(hù)繭中"跃脊。
CTV新聞的布魯克-泰勒（Brooke Taylor）報(bào)道說宇挫，這個(gè)過程和手冊(cè)中涉及的許多過程一樣，每四天重復(fù)一次酪术。在這些間隔之間器瘪，防腐人員會(huì)用布和注入芳香劑的稻草給尸體披上翠储，以防止昆蟲和食腐動(dòng)物。
整個(gè)木乃伊化過程需要70天才能完成橡疼，前35天的重點(diǎn)是給尸體脫水援所，接下來的35天則是包裹尸體。
根據(jù)史密森學(xué)會(huì)的說法欣除，經(jīng)過特殊訓(xùn)練的祭司們首先要切除大腦住拭、胃、肝臟和其他器官（除了心臟之外历帚，作為 "人的存在和智慧的中心"滔岳，心臟被留在原地）。接下來挽牢，他們用一種叫做納豆的鹽將尸體烘干谱煤，然后用亞麻布和樹脂層層包裹起來禽拔。聲明指出，臉部防腐過程是在這第二次包裹期間進(jìn)行的奏赘。
在第68天，工人們將木乃伊放入棺材中疲憋；最后兩天的過程是專門舉行儀式梁只，以促進(jìn)死者安全地前往來世。
正如約書亞-馬克（Joshua J. Mark）在2017年為《世界歷史百科全書》（World History Encyclopedia）指出的那樣搪锣，像最近發(fā)現(xiàn)的這種醫(yī)療紙莎草紙卷軸通常有兩面--直面（正面）和反面（背面）。文士會(huì)在卷軸的正面記錄大部分信息构舟，但可以選擇在背面加入額外的細(xì)節(jié)，甚至完全是其他文字弹澎。古埃及人通常將這些手稿保存在Per-Ankh中，這是神廟的一個(gè)區(qū)域苦蒿，既是圖書館又是學(xué)習(xí)中心渗稍。
盧浮宮和哥本哈根大學(xué)計(jì)劃在2022年聯(lián)合出版各自的紙莎草紙碎片团滥。
