FT268


The myth

Dried peas discovered in Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922 were found to be viable; the variety called Tutankhamen’s Pea, available today, is descended from those ancient seeds.


The “truth”

There are a number of varieties of “Mummy’s Peas” (and, indeed, sweet peas) on sale today, but the seed heritage experts at Kew Gardens say that “To the best of our knowledge, none of these stories is strongly supported by archæological evidence.” Various sources point out that the conditions in tombs, which have ensured the survival of many artefacts, are in fact too dry for good seed storage. Other than uncorrob­orated tradition, there seems to be no evidence that any seeds found in ancient Egyptian tombs have ever been successfully germinated.