Ancient Egyptian mummies were carefully embalmed and entombed with
golden jewelry, furniture and clothing. And to make sure they did
not go hungry on their travels, they were also buried with mummified
meat. King Tut was accompanied by 48 wooden cases that held a variety
of cattle and poultry joints prepared for dinner.
Archaeologists have known about this penchant for after-death munchies,
but they didn't understand how the meat was treated. So researchers
in Egypt and in the UK examined samples from both the Cairo and the
British Museums.
They extracted balm from meat samples and their wrappers. The meat
included beef ribs and a calf some 2000 years old. The wrapping
contained fats that did not touch the calf, suggesting a balm applied
only to the wrap. The rib dinner showed evidence of beeswax and a
luxury item called Pistacia resin. The study was published in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [Katherine A. Clark,
Salima Ikram and Richard P. Evershed, Organic chemistry of balms
used in the preparation of pharaonic meat mummies]
The scientists say their findings show that ancient Egyptians paid
as much exquisite attention to embalming and preserving meat as they
did to humans and pet animals. Because one should always pack a meal
for a long journey.