Natural salt mummification in a forensic context: a case report and environmental considerations

Salt mummification is an exceptionally rare phenomenon, resulting from the hygroscopic and antimicrobial properties of saline environments that inhibit microbial decomposition and promote tissue desiccation. While archaeological examples are well known, no modern forensic case has been described to date. We present the first forensic case of natural salt mummification observed in southern France, where a male body was discovered encrusted in a ∼4 cm-thick crystalline salt layer. External examination revealed a completely desiccated, brown, leathery body with preserved facial and appendicular morphology, allowing biological profiling. Autopsy showed extensive tissue desiccation compatible with preservation in a highly saline environment, with heterogeneous preservation patterns combining mummification and focal putrefactive changes, including complete cerebral liquefaction.Toxicological analyses of visceral samples were negative for drugs and toxic substances. DNA and fingerprint analyses were performed but did not result in identification. Based on environmental reconstruction of salinity dynamics, evaporation rates, and local climate conditions, provided contextual information supporting a tentative post-mortem interval hypothesis.This case is unique due to its occurrence in a warm, humid, anthropogenic saline environment and not in a salt mine context. This resulted in a hybrid pattern of desiccation and putrefaction not previously described in modern forensic literature. The case highlights the relevance of environmental analysis and multidisciplinary investigation for identification and post-mortem interval estimation in "complex" bodies.