Mystery of the Cocaine Mummies

The UK series Equinox brings us this investigation of a mystery that is baffling Egyptologists. The case calls into question whole areas of accepted scientific fact from botany, through chemistry to archaeology. In 1992, routine tests on a mummy in a Munich museum revealed high body levels of cocaine and nicotine. But such substances were not available in ancient Egypt, coming as they do from the Americas – not, apparently, to be “discovered” for thousands of years after the passing of the Egyptian dynasties. Are the mummies fakes; were the substances from plants that have since disappeared or were there, in fact, trade routes between Egypt and South America that predate accepted chronology?

Country:

United Kingdom

Genre:

Documentary

Duration:

50 minutes

Year:

1996

Director:

Sarah Marris

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Company:

Channel 4 Television

Cast:

Narrator

Self

Self

Crew:

Director

Writer