Compositional Variations in Aged and Heated Pistacia Resin Found in Late Bronze Age Canaanite Amphorae and Bowls From Amarna, Egypt*

Stern, B.; Heron, C.; Corr, Lorna T.; Serpico, Margaret; Bourriau, Janine

doi:10.1111/1475-4754.00121

Cited by 87 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Dudd and Evershed 1998;Evershed et al 2002;Copley et al 2003;Evershed et al 2008;Dunne et al 2012;Debono Spiteri et al 2016). Likewise, aquatic products (Patrick et al 1985;Hansel et al 2004;Craig et al 2007;Hansel and Evershed 2009;Shoda et al 2017), plant oils and waxes denoting vegetable and plant oil consumption/ processing (Evershed et al 1991;Copley et al 2001a;Copley et al 2001b;Reber et al 2004;Copley et al 2005;Cramp et al 2011;Dunne et al 2016) and beeswax (Heron et al 1994;Charters et al 1995;Evershed et al 1997b;Regert et al 2001;Evershed et al 2003;Roffet-Salque et al 2015), resins, tars and bitumen (Beck et al 1989;Mills and White 1989;Evershed et al 1997a;van Bergen et al 1997;Urem-Kotsou et al 2002;Stern et al 2003;Buckley et al 2004;Stern et al 2008;Connan et al 2013;Brown et al 2014: Brettell et al 2014 have been identified in connection with a wide range of technological and cultural activities. On a broader scale, lipid residue analyses can provide insight into the domestication of plants and animals, the development of animal husbandry practices and ecological and environmental changes through time (Evershed 2008b;Evershed et al 2008;…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pastoralist Foodways Recorded in Organic Residues from Pottery Vessels of Modern Communities in Samburu, Kenya

Dunne

Grillo

Casanova

et al. 2018

J Archaeol Method Theory

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Organic residue analyses of archaeological ceramics can provide important insights into ancient foodways. To date, however, there has been little critical reflection on how lipid residues might (or might not) reflect dietary practices or subsistence strategies more generally. A combination of ethnoarchaeological research and chemical and isotopic analyses of lipid residues from pottery made and used by modern Samburu pastoralists in northern Kenya was undertaken to supplement the interpretive framework used in archaeological investigations. A total of 63 potsherds were collected from various contexts, including settlement sites and rockshelters, and analysed using gas chromatography (GC), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-C-IRMS). The results showed that the free fatty acids, palmitic (C 16:0 ) and stearic (C 18:0 ), dominated the lipid profiles, with extremely broad ranges of δ 13 C values. The majority of the Δ 13 C values from Samburu pots suggest that vessels were intensively used to process ruminant carcass products, yet the Samburu economy is not, in fact, meat-based at all. Despite an overall reliance on dairy products, milk is rarely processed in ceramic vessels, largely due to cultural prohibitions. Surprisingly, a number of vessels from one site, Naiborkeju Hill, were used to process dairy products. Compound-specific radiocarbon dating of lipids from these sherds suggests that this pottery originated from an earlier period, demonstrating a possible shift in ceramic use by pastoralist communities in this region over time. The overall conclusion is that lipid residues may not necessarily reflect, in a simple way, the day-to-day consumption or the perceived relative importance of different foodstuffs. In the Samburu case, lipid residues reflect the functional and ideological suitability of ceramics for processing only certain types of food (meat/fat/bones), despite an overall reliance on milk. These conclusions are important when considering the origins and development of African pastoralism, for example, as interpreted from the archaeological record.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pastoralist Foodways Recorded in Organic Residues from Pottery Vessels of Modern Communities in Samburu, Kenya

Dunne

Grillo

Casanova

et al. 2018

J Archaeol Method Theory

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“…The presence of an unresolved complex mixture (a 'hump') around the retention time of the triterpenoids suggested there may have been a bitumen component of this balm; however, SIM analyses of the saturated hydrocarbon fraction failed to detect any of the characteristic bitumen biomarkers, i.e., steranes and triterpanes (10). Interestingly, such humps have also been observed in GC analyses of Pistacia resins from Canaanite jars from Amarna (25). Such humps can also arise through heating.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Such humps can also arise through heating. However, this Pistacia resin does not appear to have been subjected to strong heating, given the absence of the biomarker 28-norolean-17-en-3-one (8) and significant components in the m/z 453 mass chromatogram (25).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pistacia resin was used in other Egyptian contexts, all related to royal or elite consumption. It was used as incense (25) in temple and funerary rituals, the idea being that gods were pleased when they inhaled sweet smoke, and it was also used as varnish on elite coffins (19,31). Its use in mummification has often been suggested, although has rarely been observed.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Organic chemistry of balms used in the preparation of pharaonic meat mummies

Clark

Ikram

Evershed

2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The funeral preparations for ancient Egyptian dead were extensive. Tomb walls were often elaborately painted and inscribed with scenes and objects deemed desirable for the afterlife. Votive objects, furniture, clothing, jewelry, and importantly, food including bread, cereals, fruit, jars of wine, beer, oil, meat, and poultry were included in the burial goods. An intriguing feature of the meat and poultry produced for the deceased from the highest levels of Egyptian society was that they were mummified to ensure their preservation. However, little is known about the way they were prepared, such as whether balms were used, and if they were used, how they compared with those applied to human and animal mummies? We present herein the results of lipid biomarker and stable carbon isotope investigations of tissues, bandaging, and organic balms associated with a variety of meat mummies that reveal that treatments ranged from simple desiccation and wrapping in bandages to, in the case of the tomb of Yuya and Tjuia (18th Dynasty, 1386-1349 BC), a balm associated with a beef rib mummy containing a high abundance of Pistacia resin and, thus, more sophisticated than the balms found on many contemporaneous human mummies.food mummies | pharaohs | Egypt | triterpenoids | fatty acyl lipids F ood to sustain the deceased in the afterlife was perhaps the most important item in a burial and has been found in interments from the earliest periods (3300 BC) to the latest (fourth century AD). The burial of King Tutankhamun (died c. 1323 BC) comprised 48 carved wooden cases containing a variety of joints from cattle and poultry (1, 2). Virtually all of the food found in these tombs was preserved through dehydration, save for the meat, as untreated meat would not last more than a few hours in the Egyptian heat. A solution to preserving meat in the burials would have been to preserve it in the same manner as human mummies. Indeed, "meat" or "victual" mummies have been found in many high status tombs (3). Meat mummies are but one type of animal mummy produced by the Egyptians, the others including votives, pets to be left in the tomb with their owner, and sacred animals, such as the Apis bull (1, 4, 5).Hundreds of examples of meat mummies are known from ancient Egypt (see appendix II in ref. 1). Until recently, these had been neglected as objects of study and as a consequence are poorly understood. Recent investigations have established that for the most part victual mummies are joints of meat or poultry prepared as if for eating, which are wrapped, encoffined, and placed in the tomb (1,4,5). SEM has shown that salt and natron were used for desiccation (1, 5). The question that remains is whether organic balms were applied? The presence of dark residues is consistent with the appearance of balms applied to human and animal mummies (6-12). The Cairo Museum and British Museum graciously provided us with samples of tissues and balms from several meat mummies (Table 1), allowing us to assess their chemical compositions and make comparisons with...

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“…Three studies have been performed on wall paintings and ceilings in archaeological palaces and cemeteries dated to Mohammed Ali Era [28] [29] [30]. The blue pigment identified in Sabil-Kuttab Umm Abbas was ultramarine blue which had been previously identified in the Royal family graveyards [28].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spectroscopic Investigation on Paint Layers of Sabil-Kuttab Umm 'Abbas Ceiling, Mohammed Ali Era in Cairo, Egypt: Identification of Unusual Pigment and Medium

Abdel-Ghani

Mahmoud

2013

Egyptian Journal of Archaeological and Restoration Studies

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Compositional Variations in Aged and Heated Pistacia Resin Found in Late Bronze Age Canaanite Amphorae and Bowls From Amarna, Egypt*

Abstract: Bradford Scholars -how to deposit your paper Overview Copyright check• Check if your publisher allows submission to a repository.• Use the Sherpa RoMEO database if you are not sure about your publisher's position or email openaccess@bradford.ac.uk.

Cited by 87 publications

References 33 publications

Pastoralist Foodways Recorded in Organic Residues from Pottery Vessels of Modern Communities in Samburu, Kenya

Pastoralist Foodways Recorded in Organic Residues from Pottery Vessels of Modern Communities in Samburu, Kenya

Organic chemistry of balms used in the preparation of pharaonic meat mummies

Spectroscopic Investigation on Paint Layers of Sabil-Kuttab Umm 'Abbas Ceiling, Mohammed Ali Era in Cairo, Egypt: Identification of Unusual Pigment and Medium

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