Scientists discover an ancient Egyptian mummy of a pregnant woman
The mummy was previously thought to be a male priest, but scans reveal it was a woman in the later stages of pregnancy. The discovery was made by researchers at the Warsaw Mummy Project and revealed in the Journal of Archaeological Science on Thursday. The project started in 2015, uses technology to examine artefacts housed at the National Museum in Warsaw.
Experts from the project believe the remains are most likely of a high-status woman, aged between 20 and 30, who died during the 1st Century BC." Presented here is the only known example of a mummified pregnant woman and the first radiological images of such a foetus," they wrote in the journal article announcing the find. Using the foetus head circumference, they estimate between 26 and 30 weeks when the mother died for unknown reasons.
Researchers from the mummy project have dubbed the woman the Mysterious Lady of the National Museum in Warsaw because of conflicting accounts around her origins. They describe the mummy's condition as "well-preserved" but say damage to the neck wrappings suggest it was at some point targeted for valuables. The experts say at least 15 items, including a "rich set" of mummy-shaped amulets, were found intact within the wrappings.
One of the researchers on the project, Dr Marzena Ożarek-Szilke, told the Polish state news agency that her husband had first spotted what appeared to be "a little foot" on one of the scans. She told the outlet that the team hoped to study small amounts of tissue to establish the woman's cause of death.
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