MarburgAloe traces found in a 2,700-year-old mummy’s head.
Scholars had assumed medieval texts linking aloe to mummies were speculating from the Bible.
Of 24 objects tested, a skull from the eighth century BC and an 18th-century mummy drug both held aloe-linked compounds.
“The new findings suggest that this association may have deeper historical roots,” said Tanja Pommerening, Marburg pharmacy historian.
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences paper leaves open which species embalmers used and how recipes varied.
How each outlet framed it
- Phys.org
- shows the aloe evidence comes from combining molecular analysis of a mummy's head with historical written sources on embalming and medieval medicine
Sources: Phys.org