Predynastic Egyptian mummies

In the predynastic burials at Gebelein, bodies were placed in shallow sand graves; the dry sand rapidly drew moisture from the corpse, favouring the preservation of soft tissues.^[5] At Mostagedda, the samples examined in 2014 came instead from late Neolithic and predynastic pit burials, dated to about 4500–3350 BC.^[2] A contracted position is recurrent among the Gebelein bodies, with the knees drawn up and the body laid on the left side: EA 32751 is a young adult male placed in a flexed position on the left side, with the hands in front of the face, while EA 32752 is an adult female, also laid on the left side in a tightly flexed position.^[5][8]

Three of the Gebelein mummies still preserve funerary materials used as coverings or wrappings around the body: EA 32753 has basketry and linen; EA 32755 has traces of wicker, fur and linen on the body surface; EA 32756 preserves bandages at the neck, pelvis and right ankle.^[9][10][11]

Until the biomolecular analyses published in 2014, the survival of soft tissues in prehistoric Egyptian bodies was usually explained mainly by the hot, dry sand of the graves; the beginning of artificial mummification was therefore generally placed much later, in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, around 2500 BC.^[2] Chemical analyses of the funerary textiles from Mostagedda showed that, in the late Neolithic and predynastic periods, preparations were already being made from plant oil or animal fat, pine resin, plant gum or sugar, a natural petroleum substance and an aromatic plant extract.^[2] Some of these ingredients have antibacterial properties; their presence at points where soft tissues survived suggests, in the authors' interpretation, that some of the substances later used in pharaonic mummification were already in use before the formation of the Egyptian state.^[2]

In 2018, analysis of mummy S. 293 in the Museo Egizio in Turin identified an organic mixture on the funerary wrappings, consisting mainly of plant oil or animal fat; smaller amounts of heated conifer resin, plant gum or sugar and aromatic plant extract were also present.^[12] Textiles sampled from the Turin body were dated to 3644–3380 BC, at a 95.4% probability level, in agreement with the early phases of the Naqada culture, known mainly through pottery, burials and other archaeological objects.^[13] Before these analyses, the specimen had been regarded as a case of natural preservation; the chemical results indicate that at least some wrappings in direct contact with the body had been treated with organic substances.^[14][6]

The study of predynastic bodies uses both non-destructive examinations and analyses of samples taken from funerary materials.^[5][17][6] For the Gebelein mummies, computed tomography, observations on the bones and descriptions of soft tissues help distinguish injuries that occurred before death from damage after death and assess the preservation of the tissues.^{[5][8][9][28][10][11]} Infrared imaging made tattoos invisible or barely visible in ordinary light legible on two naturally mummified individuals; radiocarbon dates for EA 32751 and EA 32752 place the two tattooed individuals between 3351 and 3017 BC, at a 95.4% probability level.^[17][5][8]

Analyses of mummy S. 293 in Turin included direct observation, sampling of textiles, microscopy, radiocarbon dating, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, thermal desorption and pyrolysis coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, as well as shotgun metagenomics, an analysis of the DNA present in a sample without first selecting a single gene.^[14] The fragile condition of the Turin body prevented radiographic investigation, because the mummy could not be removed from its display case without risk of damage.^[19] The substances extracted from the wrappings of S. 293 were dominated by degraded lipids, that is, fats altered over time, with components attributed to plant oil or animal fat, conifer resin, plant gum or sugar and aromatic plant extract.^[12] For S. 293, dated to the Naqada IA–IIB phases, about 3700–3500 BC, the application of substances in the funerary treatment of the body has been chemically identified; the specimen is therefore the earliest preserved case of a predynastic Egyptian mummy with evidence of this kind.^[18]

Displayed in the British Museum since 1901, EA 32751 was listed on 23 June 2026 in Room 64, devoted to ancient Egypt, case 15.^[5] The display presents it in a reconstructed sand grave, with funerary objects from similar burials rather than from the original grave goods recorded by Budge.^[5] For EA 32752, no public display location was indicated on the same date; the body was, however, included in the exhibition Ancient Faces in Rome in 1997–1998 and in Egypt Revealed in Birmingham in 2001.^[8]

Mummy S. 293 in the Museo Egizio in Turin is located in Room 2, case 1, together with objects associated with it or from the same predynastic acquisition.^[1][20][21] Museum archives did not record modern conservation treatments capable of explaining the organic substances identified on the wrappings.^[14] The display of human remains in museums also raises ethical questions: more than 6,000 human remains are kept for display and research according to guidelines that call for respect and dignity in their care and public presentation; in 2019, a conference and a survey addressed public perceptions of human remains in museums. The debate also involves source communities and critical perspectives on museum practice that are not represented by institutional sources alone.^[29][30][31]