Radish seed oil was used in Egyptian mummification ingredients

French researchers from the Universities of Avignon and Paul Valéry reported the first discovery of the use of oils from the seeds of the Brassica family in mummification in ancient Egypt, and they suggested that the oil was most likely sourced from the seeds of the radish plant, which belongs to this family.
This discovery came as part of a study of the materials used in the mummification of six deer mummies that were found in the Roman archaeological site in the area that is currently known as “Komir Village” in the city of Esna, south of Luxor.
During the study, the details of which were published in the latest issue of the journal MDPI, the researchers extracted nine samples of embalming materials from the deer mummies, which were a complex mixture of vegetable oils, animal fats, gum and beeswax.
The study was able to report on a practice that is discovered for the first time, and has not yet been mentioned in the scientific literature, which is the use of oil extracted from the seeds of the Brassicaceae family plant. and erucic and their oxidizing and low hydroxyl compounds.
The researchers suggested that the ancient Egyptians in the Greek and Roman period used this type of oil in the mummification process due to the fact that they were aware of the results of mixing this oil with some other materials such as beeswax and gum. On the coffins in which they were buried, since they were already familiar with the results of mixing different oils with beeswax, the workers applied this knowledge when they later prepared embalming materials.
In this regard, the researchers also revealed that the beeswax used was most likely sourced from “Western honeybees”, the most common honey bee in North Africa, whose products were harvested for a long period of time in ancient Egypt.
The researchers said that what can be realized based on the data published by several studies and the results obtained in this study is that beeswax in the Roman period of rule in ancient Egypt was imposed as a kind of necessity in the embalming of different types of animal mummies, because of its preferred properties against Body deterioration and positive reaction when mixed with hot gum and vegetable oils.