Study of skin degradation in ancient Egyptian mummies: complementarity of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and histological analysis

Some dynastic and pre-dynastic Egyptian mummies from the Giovanni Marro Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, University of Turin, Italy have been studied by means of the combined approach of both Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and histological analysis, with the aim of investigating the preservation state of the skin of ancient archaeological remains, as a consequence of the differences between the two kinds of mummification processes, i.e. natural and by means of embalming substances. The results suggest that the balms used in the dynastic mummies embalming process really could have played an important role in the prevention of corpse deterioration.