Cronaca, in its 5/29/05 archive, has a story about a Canopic jar’s residue. I went to the link, but it talked about Quakers, so I am going to quote the whole thing off Cronaca.

“For the past 36 years, an Egyptian jar has stood in the collection of a Harrogate museum and, for countless years before that, lay in the deserts of the Middle East. But tests have proved that the residue inside is not just the grime of centuries, but is all that is left of a long-dead priest.

Experts at York University, led by Dr Stephen Buckley, have established the residue is cholesterol from human remains. . .

The testing also confirmed the Egyptians had sterilised the body and entrails using alcohol as an antiseptic.

And for the first time, science has been able to show that the alcohol used was date palm wine, confirming descriptions given by classical authors such as the ancient Greek historian Herodotus.

It was also revealed that the organs stored inside the jar had been treated with an aromatic spice, probably scented cinnamon or cassia imported from South-East Asia.”

Dielli