Underneath the wrappings, the work of the embalmers appears to have been sloppy: in some cases the bodies decayed before the embalming process began, which suggests that these mummies mark the beginning of the end of mummification.

He firmly believed that when you died, assuming your body was still intact at the time of death, the body decayed and that was all there was to it.

A tangle of bronze and scarlet stems blotted out his ruined face, and his limbs and body decayed as plants and other living things took strength from them.

With his body badly decayed, he uses tubes and wires to keep him alive, afraid of using more advanced implants.

I told her that we'd found the bodies, very much decayed by the time that had passed.