Ancient Egyptians Mummified Beef Cuts for Pharaohs' Afterlife

Ancient Egyptians took extreme efforts to keep their beloved Pharaohs happy in their after-life. Burial ceremonies were extravagant and the site was often filled with clothes, jewelry, cereals, poultry and even meat.

But, a Pharaoh would obviously not prefer putrefied, gooey meat in his afterlife. So, the Egyptians used exquisite balms to preserve meat, especially beef cuts.

Talk about royal ribs!

The oldest preserved meat dates back to around 3300 B.C. The tradition carried on till the 4^th century AD, Livescience reported. King Tutankhamun was apparently buried with 48 cases of beef and poultry.

Richard Evershed and Katherine Clark from the University of Bristol and Salima Ikram from the American University in Cairo recently conducted a study and found that Pistacia -  a rare shrub that grows in deserts - was used to embalm beef cuts for the Royal Family.

What's interesting is that the Egyptians did not use the precious plant resin to preserve human bodies.

"We imagine that they used them to hold back microbial degradation; that's what these resins are produced by plants for - for protection," said Evershed, according to Chemistry World.

For the study, researchers used gas chromatography to analyze chemical composition of four meat mummies. The oldest in the lot belonged to Tjuiu, an Egyptian noblewoman, and her courtier Yuya. The meat in their tombs dates back to around 1386 B.C., Livescience reported.

Other samples came from the tomb of Isetemkheb D, a sister and wife to a high priest in Thebes and from the burial ground of Henutmehyt, a Theban priestess.

Researchers found that the embalming process differed depending on the status of the dead person. Meat mummies for the elite were prepared using animal fat, spices and herbs.

The study shows that analyzing mummy meats could lead to a better understanding of social structure in ancient Egypt and even construct a family tree of Pharaohs.

Beef ribs obtained from the burial chambers of Queen Tiye's parents contain the resin. Tiye was the wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, so it is possible that the tombs belonged to Tutankhamen's step grandparents.

"You don't generally get this kind of resin unless you're quite wealthy," Ikram told the Chemistry World.

The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.