British taxi driver Alan Billis is going down in history as the first person to be mummified like a pharaoh for more than 3,000 years.
The 61-year-old Torquay resident, who was suffering from lung cancer, decided to donate his body to science when he read in a newspaper that researchers were seeking a terminally ill volunteer to become a mummy.
The process will be unveiled in a documentary called “Mummifying Alan: Egypt’s Last Secret,” to be shown on the UK’s Channel 4 on Oct. 24 at 9 p.m. local time.
With the help of archeologist Jo Fletcher at the University of York, chemist Stephen Buckley, also at the University of York, rediscovered the ancient body preservation process, using pigs’ legs to practice on. Forensic pathologist Peter Vanezis at Sheffield’s Medico-Legal Center helped perform the embalming.
Following the so-called art of mummification, firstly Billis’ organs were removed and preserved in Canopic jars.
Next, the cavity was sterilized with alcohol and filled with linen bags to keep its shape. The body was drained of fluids, coated in a protective mixture of beeswax and sesame oil, and then soaked in a natron salt bath for more than one month.
Lastly, the corpse was dried out in a chamber kept at a high temperature and low humidity for three months, and wrapped in linen bandages. Photos and drawings from Billis’ grandchildren were left with the mummy.
The re-enactment appears to have been successful with the mummy’s skin taking on a leathery appearance.
“I’ve come up with fantastic new insights that tell us a very great deal,“ said Buckley, according to the Yorkshire Post. ”What I was able to do was look at things in quite a different way, and in doing so get information that perhaps people had missed.”
“It’s turned current understanding, including my own, completely on its head.”
While still alive during an interview with the documentary team, Billis expressed only one regret: “Shame I’m not gonna be around to see it, isn’t it?” He said. ”I’d like to have seen that because I like documentaries.”
The 61-year-old Torquay resident, who was suffering from lung cancer, decided to donate his body to science when he read in a newspaper that researchers were seeking a terminally ill volunteer to become a mummy.
The process will be unveiled in a documentary called “Mummifying Alan: Egypt’s Last Secret,” to be shown on the UK’s Channel 4 on Oct. 24 at 9 p.m. local time.
With the help of archeologist Jo Fletcher at the University of York, chemist Stephen Buckley, also at the University of York, rediscovered the ancient body preservation process, using pigs’ legs to practice on. Forensic pathologist Peter Vanezis at Sheffield’s Medico-Legal Center helped perform the embalming.
Following the so-called art of mummification, firstly Billis’ organs were removed and preserved in Canopic jars.
Next, the cavity was sterilized with alcohol and filled with linen bags to keep its shape. The body was drained of fluids, coated in a protective mixture of beeswax and sesame oil, and then soaked in a natron salt bath for more than one month.
Lastly, the corpse was dried out in a chamber kept at a high temperature and low humidity for three months, and wrapped in linen bandages. Photos and drawings from Billis’ grandchildren were left with the mummy.
The re-enactment appears to have been successful with the mummy’s skin taking on a leathery appearance.
“I’ve come up with fantastic new insights that tell us a very great deal,“ said Buckley, according to the Yorkshire Post. ”What I was able to do was look at things in quite a different way, and in doing so get information that perhaps people had missed.”
“It’s turned current understanding, including my own, completely on its head.”
While still alive during an interview with the documentary team, Billis expressed only one regret: “Shame I’m not gonna be around to see it, isn’t it?” He said. ”I’d like to have seen that because I like documentaries.”
