https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45175764
QuoteDr Buckley and his colleagues worked out the chemical "fingerprint" of every ingredient, although each element could have come from a number of sources.
So the basic recipe was:
- a plant oil - possibly sesame oil;
- a "balsam-type" plant or root extract that may have come from bullrushes;
- a plant-based gum - a natural sugar that may have been extracted from acacia;
- crucially, a conifer tree resin, which was probably pine resin
When mixed into the oil, that resin would have given it antibacterial properties, protecting the body from decay.