"Forgotten" plant and organic remains from the Tutankhamun rich funerary kit are going to be studied for the first time in this project.
Tutankhamun's tomb is in fact well-known for the discovery of numerous golden objects and other prestigious artifacts, including the remarkable funerary mask, the fine jewelry and the shrine with poignant statues of goddesses. Howard Carter, the archaeologist famous for the discovery of the burial, managed to acknowledge the potential value of less prestigious findings, including plant remains. After a selection of the most interesting elements of the 'botanical treasure', which included flowers, a dried pomegranate and a basket full with Hyphaene thebaica fruits (Hepper, 2009), all the remaining plant material was swiped from the surfaces of the tomb and deposited in a big wooden box (200 x 50 x 50 cm ca.). The box was closed in 1933 and was stored in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo until 2017. In 2018 it was moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum, where conservators started working on it in 2019. The big box is not containing only plant (seeds, fruits, cuticles, wood) remains, but also organic remains of not yet clear origin. They are going to be studied by different researchers of Sapienza university in close cooperation with the scientists of Gran Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
The great environmental conditions, characterized by very low humidity, have favored the preservation of plant remains in Egypt. The origins of Egyptian archaeobotany date back to the study of plant material from a 19th dynasty tomb (1570¿1070 BC) at Thebes carried out by Kunth in 1826. Considerable advances in the state of the art were made during the following century with numerous studies providing evidence of both cultivated and wild plants found in different sites across the country, increasing the knowledge of past human-plant interactions through different historical periods in Egypt (Moustafa, Fahmy and Hamdy, 2018). An example of such studies is represented by the analysis of plant materials coming from 61 different sites spanning between Predinastic times (4500 BC) and the Graeco-Roman period (395 AD) carried out by Fahmy (1997). Garlands from pharaohs¿ tombs, many of which are currently stored at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, where perhaps the most interesting plant remains for archaeologists. They served as decorations for draping the mummies and soon acquired symbolic values, in addition to the decorative ones. Plant remains comprising them have been analyzed by Hamdy (2007).
Nonetheless, the tomb of Tutankhamun represents a unique case study, being one of the few Egyptian graves to have arrived almost intact to the present time. Tombs were, in fact, usually robbed, taking all the prestigious items and leaving timber, papyrus, linen, baskets and other less prestigious objects behind (Hepper, 2009).
Other than the great variety of plant species expected to be found, it is reasonable to expect newly introduced taxa to be part of the offerings. For example, the role of Egypt in the spread of Citrus fruits, native of southeastern Asia, is still under debate (Pagnoux et al., 2013).
Gas chromatography, mass spectrometry and the biomarker approach have been used for the analysis of Egyptian mummy bundles, in order to characterize the natural products employed in the mummification of votive bundles. These have demonstrated the presence of oils/fats, natural waxes, petroleum products, resinous exudates, and essential oils (Brettel et al., 2017). Organic residues analyses in the tomb of Tutankhamun are so far limited to few vessels, which have been revealed to be used for the storage of both white and red wine, with the addition of pomegranate and dates to add flavor (Herselman, N.D.). However, a lot of information can still be gathered regarding ointments, perfumes or essential oils that may have been deposited as offerings. Classical texts and Egyptian iconography have helped in reconstructing the agricultural practices, available food plants and the crops used for oil production. Lexicographic issues, as well as the lack of detailed information limit the precision of this approach and may result in a confusion with plants introduced at a later time (Serpico and White, 2000). For this reason, an integrated approach of archaeobotany and organic chemistry can be a good solution to fill the voids in the current state of art.
Brettell, R., Martin, W., Atherton-Woolham, S., Stern, B., & McKnight, L. (2017). Organic residue analysis of Egyptian votive mummies and their research potential. Studies in Conservation, 62(2), 68-82.
Fahmy, A. G. E. D. (1997). Evaluation of the weed flora of Egypt from Predynastic to Graeco-Roman times. Vegetation history and Archaeobotany, 6(4), 241-247.
Hamdy, R. (2007). Plant remains from the intact garlands present at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Fields of Change. Progress in African Archaeobotany. Groningen: Groningen Archaeological Studies, Barkhuis & Groningen University Library, 115-126.
Hepper, F. N. (2009). Pharaoh's flowers. The botanical treasures of Tutankhamun (2nd ed.). KWS Publishers.
Herselman, C. (N.D.). The Botanical Treasures of Tutankhamun.
Moustafa, A., Fahmy, A. G., & Hamdy, R. S. (2018). Archaeobotanical Study at the Early Dynastic Cemetery in Helwan (3100¿2600 BC), Egypt: Plant Diversity at Early Dynastic Memphis. In Plants and People in the African Past (pp. 13-39). Springer, Cham.
Pagnoux, C., Celant, A., Coubray, S., Fiorentino, G., & Zech-Matterne, V. (2013). The introduction of Citrus to Italy, with reference to the identification problems of seed remains. Vegetation history and archaeobotany, 22(5), 421-438.
Serpico, M., & White, R. (2000). Oil, fat and wax. Ancient Egyptian materials and technology, 390-429.