The Tutankhamouse experiment - Investigating tissue changes during mummification.

Experimental models have proved invaluable in improving our knowledge of the ancient Egyptians??? mummification techniques. Though they have been used for a long time and in a variety of forms, they have almost exclusively been used to verify the recorded methods and determine the finer, practical details of how the process was carried out. Whilst this has provided a wealth of information on the preparation stages and the final result, the intervening stage, where degradation is halted and the soft tissues are stabilised, has remained something of a closed book, in which it is often presumed that the water is simply drawn from the body, drying it slowly but steadily until it is ready for wrapping and internment.Whilst this may appear to be the case on a visible level, at the microscopic and molecular level the process is far more complex. The effects of burial in natron on histology and protein preservation will be discussed in this presentation, as will the potential impact of future models on improving experimental design and reducing the use of irreplaceable ancient tissue in research that has little or no chance of success with today???s analytical technology.