WARNING: If you don't like the sight of human cadavers (dead bodies) or portions of cadavers used in decay experiments, do not read this post.
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A new paper has recently been published by Papageorgopoulou et al. (2015) on the mummification of modern human cadavers using ancient Egyptian mummification techniques. They attempted to mummify the lower legs of a cadaver - one by using dry heat, and the other by covering it in natron (a naturally occurring sediment including a mixture of soda ash, baking soda, and salt).
After 7 days, they found that the dry heat treated leg did not mummify as expected, so that experiment was halted. But the natron experiment continued, with natron removing water from the soft tissue and stopping microbial decay. This allowed the leg to fully mummify after 208 days. These remains showed a greater degree of fine soft tissue preservation than those seen in ancient mummies. The experimental mummification also took much longer than the ancient Egyptian records indicate; the experiment ran for 208 days but ancient Egyptian mummification apparently only took around 60 days.
After 7 days, they found that the dry heat treated leg did not mummify as expected, so that experiment was halted. But the natron experiment continued, with natron removing water from the soft tissue and stopping microbial decay. This allowed the leg to fully mummify after 208 days. These remains showed a greater degree of fine soft tissue preservation than those seen in ancient mummies. The experimental mummification also took much longer than the ancient Egyptian records indicate; the experiment ran for 208 days but ancient Egyptian mummification apparently only took around 60 days.
Photographs of the leg from Day 11 of the experiment (D11) to Day 208 (D208). Figure from Papageorgopoulou et al (2015).
I'm surprised that these sort of experiments hadn't been conducted before, not only for the benefit of archaeologists but forensic scientists too! But perhaps that isn't surprising given the ethics clearance needed to use cadavers in experiments. In any case, congratulations to these authors for carrying out such informative and highly detailed taphonomic work.
References
Lewis, T. 2015. Modern Human Leg Mummified Using Ancient Egyptian Methods. LiveScience .com, accessed 27 May 2015.
Papageorgopoulou, C., Shved, N., Wanek, J., Rühlil, F. J., 2015. Modeling Ancient Egyptian Mummification on Fresh Human Tissue: Macroscopic and Histological Aspects. The Anatomical Record, 298(6): 974–987.
Lewis, T. 2015. Modern Human Leg Mummified Using Ancient Egyptian Methods. LiveScience .com, accessed 27 May 2015.
Papageorgopoulou, C., Shved, N., Wanek, J., Rühlil, F. J., 2015. Modeling Ancient Egyptian Mummification on Fresh Human Tissue: Macroscopic and Histological Aspects. The Anatomical Record, 298(6): 974–987.
