Egyptian tombs

Alizarin. There is only one significant plant anthraquinone dye, alizariu [72-48-0] (Cl Natural Red 6, 8, 9,10, 11, and 12 Cl 75330). In ancient times, alizaria was the preferred red dye. Cloth dyed with it has been found in Egyptian tombs dating 6000 years ago. The dye is found in the madder plant, a member of the Rubiaceae family. In 1944 about 35 species of this plant were known (1), but the use of more sophisticated analytical methods led to the detection of many more species by 1984 the number had increased to 50 (2). Of these, tinctorum and R peregrina yield the greatest amount of dye,... 

Madder, also known as Turkey red, is a scarlet dye extracted from perennial herbaceous plants of the order Rubiacea, of which there are about 35 species (Chenciner 2001 Farnsworth 1951). A well-known plant from this order is Rubia tinctorum, found naturally in Palestine and Egypt, abundant in Asia and Europe, and extensively cultivated in the ancient world, was widely used for production of the dye since remote antiquity. The use of madder for dyeing seems to have originated in the Middle East it was identified in many textiles found in Egyptian tombs and in woolen fabrics from the Judean Desert in Palestine. It was also used by the ancient Persians, Greeks, and Romans. Madder from other varieties of Rubiacea plants were used by the Incas in ancient Peru (Schaefer 1941 Fieser 1930). 

The appreciation of color and the use of colorants dates back to antiquity. The art of making colored candy is shown in paintings in Egyptian tombs as far back as 1500 bc. Pliny the Elder described the use of artificial colorants in wine in 1500 bc. Spices and condiments were colored at least 500 years ago. The use of colorants in cosmetics is better documented than colorants in foods. Archaeologists have pointed out that Egyptian women used green copper ores as eye shadow as early as 5000 bc. Henna was used to redden hair and feet, carmine to redden lips, faces were colored yellow with saffron and kohl, an arsenic compound, was used to darken eyebrows. More recently, in Britain, in the twelfth century, sugar was colored red with kermes and madder and purple with Tyrian purple. 

Lead was also known in other regions of the ancient world. Lead sculptures, coins, and other artifacts have been found in Egyptian tombs dating back to 5000 BCE. Lead was also known in ancient biblical times and is mentioned in the books of Job and Exodus. 

In his Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries, A. Lucas states that, although tin ore has not been found in Egypt, the earliest known artifacts of this metal, apart from bronze, are a ring and a pilgrim bottle from Egyptian tombs of the eighteenth dynasty (1580 B.C. to 1350 B.C.) (65). 

Rammelsberg21 analyzed a blue powder used as a pigment in an ancient Egyptian tomb, and found it to consist of silica 70.50 per cent lime 8.53 per cent copper oxide 13.00 per cent ferric oxide 3.71 per cent magnesium oxide 4.18 per cent. 

The analysis of a dark blue glass bead found in an Egyptian tomb reported by Lepsius (loc. cit), as analyzed by Clemm and Jahn, gave 2.86 per cent cobalt oxide, while a bead of lighter blue contained 0.95 per cent cobalt oxide. 

Willard Libby and colleagues have shown that a very small amount of the C02 in the air is radioactive, as explained in Problem 9. Acacia wood from the ancient Egyptian tomb ofZoser and Sakkarahas an activity of 7.62 cpm/gram of carbon. Estimate the age of this wood (and presumably the age of the tomb). 

SWEETENERS. Drawings in Egyptian tombs depicting beekeeping practices and honey production attest that the demand for sweet-tasting... 

Biblical scrolls are found in a cave near the Dead Sea. Are they authentic A mummy is discovered in an Egyptian tomb. How old is it The burned bones of a man are dug up near Lubbock, Texas. How long have humans lived in the area These and many other questions can be answered by archaeologists using a technique called radiocarbon dating. (The Dead Sea Scrolls are 1900 years old and authentic, the mummy is 3100 years old, and the human remains found in Texas are 9900 years old.)... 

The cultivation of flaxseed reaches back to the remotest periods of history. Both the seeds as well as the cloth woven from this plant fabric have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs. In fact, the first linen mentioned in the Bible has been proven by historians and archaeologists to have been spun from flax. Later on, Hippocrates stated that flaxseed was used for the relief of abdominal pains in some of his writings. For 8000 years flaxseed has been used as a source for sustaining energy. 

Iron, believed to have been introduced on Earth by meteors, was found in Egyptian tombs dating from 3500 B.C.E. The Hittites (in the area known today as Turkey) smelted iron from ore around 1500 B.C.E. From ancient... 

The oldest of the major industrial chemicals in use today is soda ash. It seems to date back to 3000 to 4000 B.C. because beads and other ornaments of glass, presumably made with soda ash, were found in Egyptian tombs. It seems a natural soda ash was used as an article of trade in ancient Lower Egypt. [3]... 

Meanwhile, the indica species of the plant spread gradually from the Far East to Egypt and Persia. Schultes and Flofmann cite a "questionable specimen of Flemp in an Egyptian tomb dating as far back as three or four thousand years ago. Arab traders brought Cannabis to the Mozambique coast of Africa around the thirteenth century. From there, its use spread rapidly inland to virtually all African tribes. Archeological evidence of this transmission includes fourteenth-century waterpipes containing Cannabis residue. 

On the basis of written descriptions (24, 29, 30), photographs (23, 24, 30), and physical evidence, the evolution of the tomb s condition as a function of time can be traced. Preliminary progress in this direction has been made (28). There is no evidence of smoke deposits on the walls, a fact that implies that the tomb was never inhabited. The complete absence of any Coptic or Arabic graffiti suggests that the tomb was not often visited at the time when many Egyptian tombs underwent particularly pronounced deterioration be-... 

Since ancient times, R. communis and A. precatorius have been used to treat numerous aliments worldwide. Castor beans have been found in Egyptian tombs dating from 4,000 BC and Egyptian temple gardens dating from 1,500 BC (Jacob and Jacob, 1993). In the pharmacopeia of ancient Egypt, castor oil, bean, and root were also mentioned in... 

Safflower florets were used to color ceremonial ointments in Egyptian tombs (10). The Journal of American College of Toxicology published a report on the safety of safflower oil in 1981. The article concluded that safflower oil was safe as a cosmetic ingredient in the current practices of use (180). Oleic safflower is considered equally safe, and safflower oil was found to be nonallergenic (181). 

The oldest sample of mercury dates to about the 15th or I6th century BCE. It was found in an Egyptian tomb at Kurna, stored in a small glass container. 

Copper was one of the first metals known to man, first used probably between 8000 and 7000 b.c. Copper utensils were found in Egyptian tombs dating back as far as 5000 b.c. The word copper derives from the Latin cuprum, an altered version of cyprium. Cyprium is an abbreviation of aes cyprium, the original name for copper in Latin, and refers to the island of Cyprus where the ancient copper mines were located (Sll). 

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