Egyptian mummification method resurrected in the UK

A man called Alan Billis, a taxi driver from Torquay, UK, donated his body to a the project after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. He died in January. This was a very interesting project conduced by two British scientist,  Buckley and Fletcher. It involves mummifying Alan, the taxi driver. The Greek historian, Herodotus described how for the ancient Egyptian mummification process the key ingredient was natron. Historians have always believed that natron was the salt that was used to dry out the mummy. But  Buckley and Fletcher think otherwise. They think the mummy was placed in natron and then dried out. The experts on mummies seemed very impressed and so was Alan's wife, Jan, saying "I'm the only woman in the country who's got a mummy for a husband,".

MLA Citation: Marchant, Jo. "Short Sharp Science: Egyptian Mummification Method Resurrected in the UK." Science News and Science Jobs from New Scientist - New Scientist. 18 Oct. 2011. Web. 09 Dec. 2011.