Dr Kate Fulcher is a Research Assistant in the British Museum's Department of Scientific Research, and she led the new research project searching for answers as to what this “black goo” used in Egyptian burials is, and what it might reveal about ancient Egyptian funerary practices and rituals.
An article on the British Museum’s website opens by describing the burial of Djedkhonsiu-ef-ankh, an ancient Egyptian high priest who served as the “Opener of the Doors of Heaven” at the Temple of Amun at Karnak almost 3,000 years ago. This title means he was the gatekeeper of the temple sanctuary shrine in which the cult image of the god resided and according to Dodson and Hilton’s 2004 book The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, Djedkhonsiu-ef-ankh was wrapped in linen cloths, mummified and buried in Deir el-Bahari , a complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Egyptian Nile, opposite the city of Luxor.
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