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Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation
The Howard Carter Archives
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Carter No.: 032t

Handlist description: Four incense balls

Card/Transcription No.: 032t


32 (t) Four incense balls.

These were about 2.2 in diam.

Probably made of a paste of gum resin. Burns freely with smoky flame & gives out pleasant aromatic odour.

Yellowish in colour.

Analysis.

A few tiny fragments from a broken ball were tested in the preliminary way that alone was possible with such a small amount of material. The material was of a yellowish-brown colour, brittle, slightly resinous-looking, burned with a smoky flame and gave out a pleasant aromatic odour. Solubility in alcohol = 83% approx. and in water after alcohol 21% approx. It was therefore a gum-resin and hence could not be either Caldanum or Storax; from the colour it was probably not myrrh and altogether was suggestive of frankincense.

Card no. 032t relating to Carter no. 032t
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Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation
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