From personal hygiene to embalming the dead, ancient Egypt has many uses for natron. It's a naturally forming desert salt easy to harvest from deposits and riversides. In pure form natron is white to clear. In nature it usually appears in shades of yellow or gray.
See also:
Containing 17% sodium bicarbonate or baking soda, natron is one of many disinfectants and preservatives used by people of the ancient world. Natron is harvested directly as a salt mixture from dry lake beds of ancient Egypt.
It's an all-around cleaning product for home or self. When blended with oil natron acts as soap. Undiluted, natron is a tooth cleaner and mouthwash. The mineral is used in poultices and medical preparations such as antiseptics for minor cuts, burns and skin inflammation.
See also:
Various salts make up the composition of natron. Due to its sodium content natron can be used to dry and preserve fish and meat. It's an insecticide around the home and also used for making leather, and as a bleach.
Natron is an ingredient for making Egyptian blue, and acts as the flux, or ingredient which causes melting, in Egyptian faience. With sand and lime, it's used in ceramic and glass-making by the later Romans at least until 640 CE.
See also:
In the ancient world metal workers use natron as a flux to solder precious metals. It's added to castor oil in lamps, to prevent soot from the flame.
Natron is specifically used in Egyptian mummification procedures because it absorbs water and helps dry out the corpse. Also, when exposed to moisture, chemical changes in natron have anti-bacterial action.
See also:
The mineral is thought to enhance spiritual safety for the living and dead. The Pyramid Texts of Egypt (c. 2400 - 2300 BCE) describe use of natron pellets as funerary offerings. Natron from Upper (South) and Lower (North) Egypt are used together in burial rites.
Natural deposits of natron are found in Chad (below), Egypt (Wadi Natrûn), Ethiopia, Niger and Tanzania. Natron is found naturally in Europe in Hungary, England and Italy. Deposits in Russia and North America also exist today.
See also:
Natron is no longer as popular as once it was. Soda ash replaces natron in glass-making and detergents. Mummification has gone out of fashion.
Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is extracted for commercial production. Home uses of baking soda include cleaning, as a baking additive, nausea medicine, water softener and tooth whitener.
See also:
In mineralogy of modern times, the term natron is used in a narrower sense. Natron refers only to the sodium carbonate decahydrate (hydrated soda ash) that makes up most of the historical salt.
See also: