The first modern man who was mummified

In 2010, a team led by forensic archaeologist Stephen Buckley mummified Alan Billis using techniques based on 19 years of research of 18th dynasty Egyptian mummification.

Mr. Billis, a former British taxi driver who passed away from lung cancer at the age of 61, had volunteered for the experiment before his death.

Billis, who loved watching documentaries, agreed to have his body preserved after seeing an advertisement from a television company looking to film the process. They wanted to use the techniques that preserved Tutankhamun's body after his death in 1323 BC.

Over a period of several months following his death in January, Mr. Billis' internal organs were removed and kept in jars, with the exception of his brain and heart. His skin was covered in a mixture of oils and resins and bathed in a solution of Natron, a salt found in dried-up river beds in Egypt. After a month in a glass tank at the Medico-Legal Centre in Sheffield, which houses the city's mortuary, his body was removed, placed in a drying chamber, and wrapped in linen bandages in a style mimicking that of the Egyptian Pharaohs. His brains were not removed through his nose, a practice that was not carried out in ancient Egypt, contrary to popular belief.

The process has been hailed as a success by experts, making Billis the first person in over 3,000 years to be mummified in the style of the ancient Egyptians.