A mummified skull from Marburg’s university collection, dated to the eighth century B.C., has yielded chemical traces linked to aloe—about 2,700 years after it was prepared for burial. The finding gives researchers the first direct molecular evidence that aloe-derived materials were used in ancient Egyptian embalming, while leaving open how common that practice was.
Embalming involved more than removing organs. Ancient Egyptians treated bodies with mixtures of plant, animal and mineral materials, and earlier chemical studies had found substances such as conifer resins, plant oils, animal fats, beeswax and bitumen. Yet it has been difficult to match plant substances named in old texts to specific ingredients found on mummies. A team at Marburg University brought together chemistry, Egyptology and the history of pharmacy to investigate that gap.
The researchers examined 24 objects from university and museum collections. Among them were the skull, from Marburg University’s Zoological Collection, and a sample of a historical medicine called Mumia vera aegyptiaca. That 18th-century preparation came from the Löwen Pharmacy in Offenbach am Main and is now held at the Heidelberg Pharmacy Museum. Chemical tests found several plant-derived compounds associated with aloe in both samples.
The result matters because aloe had not previously been identified as an ingredient in ancient Egyptian embalming through molecular analysis. It also offers a possible explanation for why later medical writing linked aloe with mummy material. Dr. Tanja Pommerening, head of Marburg University’s Institute for the History of Pharmacy and Medicine, said scholars had thought medieval authors might be guessing or drawing on biblical passages, since knowledge of Egyptian embalming had been lost. The new evidence suggests the connection may reach further back.
The word “aloe” needs care, however. Historically, it could refer to different materials, including fragrant agarwood from the Aquilaria genus. The compounds detected in this study point instead to products from the Aloe genus. Researchers also revisited Egyptian texts and considered whether a substance called ꜥnḫ-jm.j might mean aloe or a substance released by the plant. Its identity is still uncertain.
And the finding is not proof that aloe was a standard part of mummification. Aloe-associated compounds appeared in only two of the 24 objects studied. The material may have been used in particular practices, perhaps depending on the period or access to supplies. Researchers also used broad chemical profiling and computer-assisted methods to compare samples, an approach that can help investigate the histories of objects in museum collections.
The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows how modern chemical tools can test ideas raised by ancient texts and later traditions. More samples and further research will be needed to establish when, where and how aloe was used. For now, a handful of molecular traces has turned a long-standing historical suggestion into a testable connection.