For millennia,
ancient Egyptians used oil tar to preserve bodies. New geologic research shows
that the tar came from several sources, shedding light on how trade routes of
old compare to those of today.
New research suggests that ancient Egyptians used oil tar from Gebel Zeit in
Egypt, shown here, and from the Dead Sea to preserve mummies. Image courtesy
of James Harrell.
All tar sands — crude oils, asphalts and bitumen — contain source-specific
compounds, known as biomarkers, which have unique chemical signatures that are
closely related to the biological precursors of the oil. Using gas chromatography
and mass spectrometers, geologists can identify these biomarkers in the oil
to create a very specific “fingerprint” that enables them to trace
the location where the oil originated. This fingerprinting is frequently used
to trace oil spills to a ship or other point of origin (see Geotimes,
January 2005).
Recently, a handful of geologists have fingerprinted tar originating from natural
oil seeps around the Middle East and tar samples collected from the 3,000-year-old
wraps of mummies. Most have tested mummies that were preserved in tar originating
near the Dead Sea, several countries away, close to what is now Israel.
But in 2002, Michael Lewan of the U.S. Geological Survey in Denver, working
with colleague James Harrell of the University of Toledo, found one mummy whose
tar could be traced to a site called Gebel Zeit (“Oil Mountain” in
Arabic) in the Gulf of Suez in Egypt — the first discovery of Egyptian
oil having been used in mummy preservation. Following on the heels of this research,
Texas A&M University geochemist Chuck Kennicutt, along with colleagues at
the University of Alexandria in Egypt and elsewhere, examined the biomarker
signatures of several more mummies to see if they could find evidence of mummy
tar originating from the same site in Egypt.
Publishing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Geoarchaeology, Kennicutt’s
team reports finding just that. Their new evidence, in combination with the
earlier studies showing tar originating from the Dead Sea, thus confirms, they
say, that the Egyptians used oil from several sources in embalming their dead.
“Our work expands the idea that trade was going on throughout the Middle
East in antiquity, much as it is today,” Kennicutt says.
Analyzing more mummies, as well as other items that use oil for a variety of
purposes — for example, as a sealant for ceramic pottery and baskets and
an adhesive for jewelry — may further illuminate trade and life thousands
of years ago, Lewan says. “This is a novel and fascinating application
for oil research,” he says.
Megan Sever
Links:
"Getting to the Source of the Puget Sound Oil
Spill," Geotimes, January 2005
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