Mostagedda ‘mummy’ textiles, origin of balm samples, the abundance of ancient ‘resin’ in the textiles, and their chemical composition.

1All samples in this study were from Bolton Museum.
2The term ‘resin’ denotes physical appearance and does not presuppose any chemical composition or biological origin.
3Percentage of the extracted ancient ‘resin’, i.e. ‘balms’, was quantified by the weight of extract minus the Zellon component (determined by GC and GC/MS; also see radiocarbon SI), and, where sample sizes were sufficient (see text), internal standards added at the extraction stage. Percentage relative abundance of components in extracted ‘balms’ based on relative peak areas, and, where present, corroborated by internal standards added at the extraction stage. Compositions do not imply that they were the original formulations due to possible chemical changes over time.
*after Brunton 1937.