The Mummies on Display

The exhibition features a select group of Royal Mummies that have been specially recreated using a new technique developed in Europe that makes it possible to create perfect facsimiles of ancient bodies. The process make the mummies accessible to the public whilst preserving the originals in perfect environmental conditions and thereby not putting them at risk and preserving them for future generations.

The process which was developed in Dorset by World Heritage uses medical skeletons and actual animal skin to re-create bodies based on accurate measurements, X-rays, and wherever possible laser scanning.

The bones of the skeleton are first modified and altered to conform to the skeletal dimensions of the body to be reproduced. That is then built up from the inside outwards using artificial organic flesh.

Apart from Egyptian mummies the technique has recently been used to make a replica of a famous natural mummy, the bog body of Lindow Man found in Cheshire, UK. In fact the technique can be used to make copies of any bodies including mummies, embalmed bodies, bog bodies and even the alpine Ice Man.

This special technique makes it possible to see, albeit in facsimile, some of the most important Royal mummies and their funerary treasures that normally cannot be seen outside Cairo. The thrilling display on view in Dorchester includes both antiquities and mummies specially created for this exhibition using this new technique. The featured mummies on display are accurate in every detail.

Mummies and other bodies reproduced using this technique not only enables the original body to be preserved under perfect conditions but also makes it possible for “bodies” to be displayed in cultures that may not choose to display “real” bodies. Recently the technique pioneered by World Heritage in Dorset, were adapted and used to make a facsimile of the mummy of Tutankhamun for the US Tutankhamun exhibition currently on show in New York.

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