BRONZE-AGE Britons practised the art of mummification at the same time as the Egyptians. And it appears that the ancient Britons invented the skill for themselves.
Archaeologists unearthed the skeletons of a man, a woman, and a 3-year-old girl under the floor of a prehistoric house at Cladh Hallan on the Scottish island of South Uist. Although no mummified body tissue remained, other evidence was found. The adults鈥� corpses were locked with their knees close to their chests, similar to Peruvian 鈥渕ummy bundles鈥�. 鈥淭he bodies must have been trussed up that way because you can鈥檛 bend a body like that normally,鈥� says Jen Hiller, a biophysicist at the University of Cardiff, UK, who examined the skeletons.
Hiller thinks that the bodies were immersed in an acid peat bog for a few months 鈥� long enough to remove some of the soft tissue but keep the tendons and ligaments intact. The acid would also slowly demineralise the bones, an effect that could be tested. Hiller鈥檚 analysis showed a breakdown of minerals in the outer 3 millimetres of the bones (Antiquity, vol 79, p 529).
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This is the only example of mummification in Europe, she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 nothing like the techniques used in Egypt. People used the natural resources available to them to carry out this incredibly sophisticated process.鈥�
