Henut Taui - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Henut_Taui

Henut Taui
Henut Taui, or Henuttaui, Henuttawy (fl. ca 1000 BCE) was an
Ancient Egyptian priestess during the 21st Dynasty whose remains
were mummified. She is mainly known for being one of the so-called
"cocaine mummies". Henuttaui[1]
Era: 3rd Intermediate Period
Background (1069–664 BC)
Egyptian hieroglyphs

Little to nothing is known about her life. She was a priestess and chantress in the temple of Amun
at Thebes, and after her death her body was embalmed and buried in the Deir el-Bahari necropolis.

After the discovery of her tomb, her mummy became a property of the king of Bavaria (likely
Ludwig I), who later donated it to the Staatliche Sammlung für Ägyptische Kunst of Munich, where
it is still located today (ÄS 57).[2] Her coffin, once located at the National Archaeology Museum of
Lisbon,[3] is now in Munich too.[4]

Rediscovery
In 1992, German toxicologist Svetlana Balabanova discovered traces of cocaine, hashish and
nicotine on Henut Taui's hair as well as on the hair of several others mummies of the museum,[5]
which is significant[2] in that the only source for cocaine and nicotine had been considered to be
the coca and tobacco plants native to the Americas, and were not thought to have been present in
Africa until after Columbus voyaged to the Americas.[6]

This result was interpreted by theorists and supporters of contacts between pre-Columbian people
and ancient Egyptians, as a proof for their claims. The findings are controversial because while
other researchers have also detected the presence of cocaine and nicotine in Egyptian mummies,
two successive analyses on other groups of Egyptian mummies and human remains failed to fully
reproduce Balabanova's results, and some showing positive results only for nicotine.[7][6][8]

After these experiments, even assuming that cocaine was actually found on mummies, it is possible
that this could be contamination which occurred after the discovery of the mummies.[7] The same
argument can be applied to nicotine but, in addition, various plants other than tobacco are a source
of nicotine and two of these, Withania somnifera and Apium graveolens, were known and used by
ancient Egyptians.[7] Sources of nicotine other than tobacco and sources of cocaine in the Old
World are discussed by the British biologist Duncan Edlin.[9]

References
1. Daressy, G. (1907), “Les cercueils des prètres d'Ammon”, ASAE 8, p. 13 (see A 136).
2. Rice, M., Who is who in Ancient Egypt, 1999 (2004), Routledge, London, ISBN 0-203-44328-4,
pp. 64-65.
3. Daressy, G., op. cit., p. 19 (see A 136).

1 of 2 1/3/2022, 3:16 PM
Henut Taui - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henut_Taui

4. Porter, B. & Moss, R., Topographical bibliography of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic texts, reliefs
and paintings. I. The Theban necropolis, part 2. 2nd edition, Oxford University Press 1964, p.
639.
5. Balabanova, S. et al. (1992), "First Identification of Drugs in Egyptian Mummies",
Naturwissenschaften 79, p. 358.
6. "Curse of the Cocaine Mummies" written and directed by Sarah Marris. (Producers: Hilary
Lawson, Maureen Lemire and narrated by Hilary Kilberg). A TVF Production for Channel Four
in association with the Discovery Channel, 1997.
7. Counsell, David J. "Intoxicants in Ancient Egypt? Opium, nymphea, coca, and tobacco", in
David, Rosalie (ed), Egyptian mummies and modern science, Cambridge University Press
2008, pp. 211-15. ISBN 978-0-511-37705-1
8. American Drugs in Egyptian Mummies (https://faculty.ucr.edu/~legneref/ethnic/mummy.htm)
9. "A look at the Evidence for Cocaine in Mummies" (https://web.archive.org/web/2014082118234
2/http://www.hallofmaat.com/modules.php?name=Articles&file=article&sid=45).
Thehallofmaat.com. Archived from the original (http://www.hallofmaat.com/modules.php?name
=Articles&file=article&sid=45) on August 21, 2014. Retrieved November 26, 2013.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Henut_Taui&oldid=1048502240"

This page was last edited on 6 October 2021, at 10:12 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using
this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

2 of 2 1/3/2022, 3:16 PM