Tracing the post-mortem history of Egyptian mummies using nuclear microprobe analysis of trace metal elements and mineral dust particles

Abstract

Trace metal elements present in black matter coatings and airborne dust particles trapped by Egyptian mummies were studied by combining µ-PIXE and µ-IBIL spectroscopy and mapping. Among the samples from 16 mummies that were analyzed, a detailed study was carried out on fragments of strips and black matter detached from the enigmatic human mummy preserved in the Musée de Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. Quantification of V and Ni showed that the mummy's bitumen comes from an unknown source, different from the Dead Sea which was the main source of bitumen in the black matter of the other studied mummies. Abundant microparticles of Egyptian blue pigment and of airborne aluminosilicate and carbonate particles trapped on both sides of the samples were detected by µ-PIXE and µ-IBIL, with more aluminosilicates on the inner side of strips, facing the mummy, and more carbonates on the outer faces, facing outward. The nature and distribution of dust particles suggested that the mummy was exposed to at least two dust events: one event in South Egypt during preparation of the mummy, and the other in Northern Egypt after excavation of the mummy. The abundance of mercury indicates that the mummy had undergone, in the first third of the 19th century, undocumented treatments with mercury salts to protect the mummy against insects and fungi.