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Preserved for the afterlife

Ancient Egyptians used sophisticated combinations of natural substances to embalm the human body. Over time, they modified their recipes to balance quality of preservation with cost and availability of materials.

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Figure 1: Wrapped for eternity — a mummy from the Roman period with a face portrait.

BRITISH MUSEUM

Figure 2: Notable aspects of the embalmer's art listed by historical period.

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Correspondence to Sarah Wisseman.

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Wisseman, S. Preserved for the afterlife. Nature 413, 783–784 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35101673

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