![]() Dioscorides described one form as a liquid from Apollonia (modern Albania) known, in Persian, as mumiya. Galen, wrote about its healing properties. writers Pliny the Elder and Dioscorides, as well as the second-century A.D. Unauthorized use is prohibited.īlack, sticky, and viscous, bitumen is a form of petroleum found in areas around the Dead Sea. ![]() Other scholars trace the relationship’s origin to the misconception that mummies contained bitumen, a substance long associated with healing in the ancient world. There is evidence that Europeans believed that embalmed bodies contained otherworldly healing powers. ![]() Scholars have had difficulty pinning down exactly how mummies came to be used for medicine. ( Learn more about the mummification process.) Oils and resins would be applied to the body, which would then be stuffed with linen rags or sawdust before being sealed and wrapped in bandages. Sometimes fragrant substances, like myrrh, were used to anoint the body. After removing the body’s internal organs, priests would use natron, a naturally occurring salt, to dry it out. Although the process changed over time, many of its core practices remained the same. Mummification was a complex, lengthy process that helped preserve the body for its journey in the afterlife.
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