From Roots to Wraps: The Plants Behind Ancient Mummification

by Chelsea McLean, Horticulturist, The Gardens on Spring Creek

The vibrant foliage of the summer months has cleared away, leaving brittle skeletons. We horticulturists prepare our gardens for the afterlife — ushering leaves into designated areas, clearing certain plants of last year’s growth – in a yearly practice that is part pragmatic, part ritual. Similarly, ancient cultures carried out their own practices to prepare human and animal souls for the afterlife. As the garden dies back and our thoughts turn spooky, let’s put some horticultural context into the practice of mummification.

First, consider that mummification was carried out in multiple cultures throughout the ancient world, and location determined the plant palette available to priests. In Egypt, both gymnosperm and angiosperm resins and oils were used to seal pores in the skin and act as adhesives. These were sourced from cedar, juniper, olive, and pistachio trees, myrrh, and elemi. Scientists have found plant materials sourced as far away as the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, and tropical Africa, leading them to believe that mummification was a big driver in trade.  Linen wraps made from the flax plant were used to finish the process, much like what we see in cartoons.

South American practices spanned the timeframe between the ancient Chinchorro, seven thousand years ago, and the Incan people, approximately five hundred years ago, and used organic material more in preparation for death rather than the preservation of the body. A year prior to the sacrifice, the victim’s intake of coca and corn beer skyrocketed, leading anthropologists to believe the practice maintained an altered spiritual state. 

The actual mummification process involved more physical manipulation that would be considered gruesome by modern standards. Embalming recipes included a fermented corn beer and seaweed, stuffing internal cavities with local grasses, and reinforcing the body’s architecture with sticks or canes. The bodies were often wrapped in reed mats before burial.

Modern science has shown that many of these materials have antimicrobial properties that combat decay. A good portion of the plants used were highly fragrant to cover up the residual smell of decomposition. Cultural status had much to do with the level of processing, the types of ingredients used, and how far afield the sourcing would go. 

So, when you open your door on Halloween night to a four-foot-tall mummy asking for a trick or a treat, consider offering up a trick of your own. Toss a small bundle of cedar boughs into the pumpkin-shaped pail and call it a wrap!