University to bring mummies to Mother’s Day

Luke Jacobs Monday, February 18, 2013
3:12 PM

A university lecturer who played a key role in the first mummification of a body for 3,000 years is to reveal all about the intriguing project.

Peter Vanezis, Professor in Forensic Medical Sciences at Queen Mary, University of London, will explain his role in the making of Channel 4’s BAFTA award winning Mummifying Alan: Egypt’s Last Secret.

The programme saw a team of scientists work to preserve the body of Alan Billis, a Devon taxi driver who was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and donated his body to the mummification project before he died.

Leading Egyptologist Joyce Filer will also provide an insight into the preservation methods of ancient cultures - and Victorian mummy unwrapping parties.

Her talk will aim to delve into the practice of desecrating, posing, and taking pictures of Egyptian bodies for entertainment.

She is a former curator for Human and Animal Remains in the Ancient Egyptian and Sudanese department of the British Museum.

The pair will appear at the event at the university’s West Smithfield campus on March 8 from 6.30pm, two days before Mother’s Day.

Tickets to the event are £6 and include drinks and the chance to view some of the Barts Pathology Museum’s medical specimens.