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Ancient Egyptians Created "Meat Mummies" So Dead Could Continue To Eat
sciencehabit writes "What is your beloved mummy going to eat for the rest of eternity? For some ancient Egyptians, the answer included meat. In King Tutankhamun's tomb, for example, archaeologists found 48 wooden cases of butchered cuts of beef and poultry. But unlike offerings of fruit and grains, which could last for quite a while once dehydrated and placed in dry tombs, pieces of meat required special treatment. After just a few hours in the desert heat, 'they will become a terrible mess if you don't take some steps to preserve them,' says Richard Evershed, an archaeological chemist at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. The solution? Mummify. Now, a team of researchers led by Evershed is shedding light on the embalming processes used to create these so-called meat mummies, including mummified beef ribs."
Think of it as an analogue to McDonalds, or SPAM.
Nerds love jerky.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
When people were mummified, their internal organs were put into clay pots in the sarcophagus.
So if the kings were to eat after death... where did anyone think the food was going to go?
Laughter is the Spackle of the Soul.
"archaeological chemist"
How is that not news for nerds?
This is awesome nerd fair.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
It was better known by the locals as "Mesopotamia Mystery Meat"
This is an outrage - I was going to eat that mummy!
I am officially gone from
That and there aren't many comments on this "nerd fair" article.
I think people are still trying to digest the idea. Clearly that is more palatable than the meat. And that's not saying much....
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Add water, makes its own sauce...
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
Why do you insist they were built by humans? We have more resources and technology than ever before in history, and it's still considered impossible...
Because the other explanations are 1) They were build by aliens, or (other non human earthlings) and 2) It came into existence naturally. Both are even more unlikely.
How do you tell the diner from the dinner, perhaps?
Ancient Egypt was definitely not rain forest, can't imagine where you got that idea. It was, of course, farmed on a large scale -- just as it is today, by using the Nile.
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not impossible at all, any competent civil engineer can tell you how to do it with or without machines.
those sensationist articles you read claiming otherwise were not written by engineers.
try biltong, it's far better than anything jerked, it's made from real cuts of meat, vinegar, herbs, spices and salt. oh, and the name means 'buttock strips'
check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYQBDhkBfr0
Yeah but this "archaeological chemist" thinks that ancient Egypt was a desert, whereas most others have concluded that it was a lush rainforest, and that the people of that day were into farming on a large scale. That and there aren't many comments on this "nerd fair" article.
Twelve thousand years ago the area was mixed grassland and scrub fed from the heavier rainfall caused by the extended ice cap. Forests ran along river banks. By four thousand years ago the area was arid desert. It was never rain forest.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
Did they get a date on that meat?
"Best by 1334 BC"
IIRC, the reason that the Nile valley was settled and farmed had less to do with rainfall, and more to do with the regular, seasonal floods that acted as a natural irrigation system for the floodplain. The area probably was less arid than today, but the (twice-yearly?) floods made the floodplain fertile.