The first remnants of an ancient Egyptian mummified pregnant woman has been discovered, having been found in Thebes, dating back over 2,000 years.The dead body was 28 weeks into her pregnancy when she passed on, scans of the body showed.
The Warsaw Mummy Project
Scientists working as part of the Warsaw Mummy Project from the Polish Academy of Sciences, worked to get more information about the woman, assumed to be in her 20s. Through X-rays and CT scans combination, the team found the remnants of a fetus, that is around 26 to 30 weeks old, inside the woman - the first time a mummy that is pregnant has been found.
The woman's body, who died 2,000 years ago, had been wrapped carefully in textile and left with an expensive set of amulets to see her into the afterlife, as stated by the authors that writes in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
The team can't precisely say why the fetus wasn't removed but left inside the woman and not separately mummified, but propose it may be because it was still too young to be given a name so needed to journey to the afterlife while inside its mother.
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Four Sons of Horus
Dr Wojciech Ejsmond, the study lead author said this was the "first discovery of a pregnant body that is embalmed. He added that there is no other ancient body of a pregnant woman that is so well preserved. " The body was wrapped in fabrics of high quality and was laid to rest with a set of amulets that is a representative of the four sons of Horus, which the team says implies she was very important in Thebes.
It was said that the mummy was discovered in royal tombs in Thebes, Upper Egypt, from the elite of Theban community, as stated by the authors of the study. It dates back to the first century BC, the period when Cleopatra was Queen and the city of Thebes was a center of activity and was discovered in the 1800s.
Ancient Egyptian Burial Traditions and Interpretations
In 1826, the woman was conveyed to Warsaw in Poland, around the time of some of the most crucial findings from the Egyptian Valley of the Kings and is on show presently at the National Museum in Warsaw. In 2021, a closer examination was made with the use of modern imaging techniques, which revealed that the woman passed on between 20 and 30 years of age along with the fetus - 30 weeks old.
Study authors wrote: "This mummy makes new possibilities for pregnancy studies in early times available, which can be related and compared to recent cases."Additionally, this sample sheds a light on an aspect of ancient Egyptian burial traditions and interpretations of pregnancy that is unresearched in the context of ancient Egyptian religion.
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