# What ancient Egyptian glue was really made of

> Tiny samples from coffins and tomb walls reveal cow glue, antelope collagen, and seed proteins from a sacred tree.
- Title: What ancient Egyptian glue was really made of · Ars Technica
- Summary: Tiny samples from coffins and tomb walls reveal cow glue, antelope collagen, and seed proteins from a sacred tree. Egyptian artisans grabbed whatever binder…
- Keywords: archaeology, ancient egypt, proteomics, conservation, chemistry, technology, science, ancient, Egyptian, glue, really, made
- Source: Ars Technica — https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/09/scientists-unlock-secrets-of-ancient-egyptian-materials-with-proteomics
- Published: 2026-09-11T18:49:39+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: archaeology, ancient egypt, proteomics, conservation, chemistry, technology, science
## A recipe nobody wrote down
The paints, binders, and adhesives behind Egyptian artifacts were mostly a mystery, because finding out meant cutting into priceless objects.
## Proteins from a speck
Researchers turned mass spectrometry-based proteomics on glues and adhesives across a wide set of Egyptian artifacts, publishing the results in Science Advances.
## The pigments were easier
Hematite and realgar for red, orpiment for yellow, Egyptian blue, huntite for white. Most carry elemental markers that X-ray fluorescence can spot without touching the surface.
## Why proteomics wins
It needs less material than older methods and reads every protein in a mixture, instead of hunting only for ones you already suspected, like gas chromatography does.
## Proven on beer and fingerprints
The same approach found beer byproducts priming Danish Golden Age canvases, and proteins left by Renaissance readers thumbing through medical manuals.
## Samples across 18 centuries
Tiny samples came from coffins, tomb wall fragments, a plaster mummy bust, and painted limestone in Swedish, British, and Danish collections, dating 1425 BCE to 400 CE.
## Cow, goat, donkey, antelope
Collagens from boiled skin and connective tissue showed up in adhesives, paints, and ground layers alike, with no pattern tying a species to a color, era, or object.

> No notable correlation was observed between the choice of the animal species/part and the object type
## Seeds in the red paint
Sesame proteins turned up in red samples from a coffin and a tomb wall, moringa on another coffin. Both seeds gave prized oils for cooking, medicine, cosmetics, and mummification.
## A god in the glue
Moringa was seen as a manifestation of Ptah, patron of craftsmen. Its traces on a coffin may be a leftover of seed processing, or an artisan blessing their own work.

> the use of moringa could represent a possible action taken by the artist to devote or safeguard the final product
## Key takeaway

Egyptian artisans grabbed whatever binder was at hand, animal or plant, and proteomics can now name each one from a speck of paint.