Study and Investigations of archaeobotanical remains from Tutankhamun tomb

Abstract

Abstract: An immense ―natural‖ treasure was recently recovered from the storerooms of the Archaeological Museum of Cairo. Once moved to the new seat and museum, the Grand Egyptian Museum, it was time to start studying this precious ―rubbish‖ recovered one century ago, at the end of the archaeological excavation of the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun by Howard Carter‘s team. The study focuses on carpological remains swiped from the surfaces of the tomb and deposited in a wooden box in 1933. The carpological remains retrieved from the box are still in excellent condition, and allowed identification at a species level. Identified remains contained fruits and seeds belonging to 24 species belonging to 14 different plant families. New Species found in all the tombs of the Eighteenth Dynasty include faba bean (Vicia faba L.) and onion (Allium cepa L.). Egyptian luffa / sponge gourd (Luffa aegyptiaca Mill.) is a total novelty. In this work I started analyzing the plant remains, using only a qualitative approach. The restrictions caused by the pandemic prevented, in fact, a continuous laboratory work and the complete identification of the so far extracted macroremains.