In 1935, the Metropolitan Museum of New York (USA) led an archaeological expedition to Egypt. At Deir Elbahari, near Luxor, on the site of the ancient city of Thebes, they excavated the tomb of Senmut, architect and overseer of royal works, and supposedly the lover of the famous Queen Hatshepsut (1479–1458 BC). Beneath Senmut’s tomb, they discovered a separate burial chamber for his mother, Hat-Nufer, and other unidentified relatives. This is where the mystery of the “screaming” mummy began.
The Mystery of the “Screaming” Mummy. Here they made a startling discovery: a wooden coffin containing the mummy of an elderly woman wearing a black wig and two scarab rings, one silver and one gold. What surprised archaeologists was the mummy’s expression: mouth wide open, as if stuck in a scream. They called her the “screaming mummy”.
Now, some 2,500 years after its burial, researchers in Egypt have used the most advanced scientific techniques to examine the “screaming mummy” and learn more about its life and death.
The results were published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine.
The Screaming Mummy Mystery. Embalming
“Here we show that she was embalmed with expensive, imported materials. This, together with the mummy’s good state of preservation, contradicts the traditional belief that failure to remove internal organs would imply poor mummification,” said Dr. Sahar Saleem, professor of radiology at Kasr Al Ainy Hospital of Cairo University (Egypt).
Until 1998, the “screaming mummy” was kept at the Kasr Al Ainy School of Medicine in Cairo, where in the 1920s and 1930s researchers studied many royal mummies, including Tutankhamun. It was later moved to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo at the request of the Ministry of Antiquities. Since its discovery in 1935, the mummy’s coffin and rings have been on display at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
In the new study, Saleem used CT scans to “virtually dissect” the mummy, estimate its age, and identify pathologies and state of preservation.
Saleem and Dr. Samia El-Merghani, used advanced techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis to identify the materials used.
What did this person look like before death?
The authors found that the mummy was still in good condition, even 2,500 years after burial. The investigation carried out 89 years after the discovery of the mummified woman shows her naked, lying on her back, with her legs outstretched and her hands clasped above her groin. She was missing several teeth, probably lost before death, as there were signs of bone resorption, which occurs when a tooth is lost and the cavity is left to heal. Other teeth were broken or showing signs of wear, writes Phys.org.
“Teeth lost during life can be extracted. Dentistry originated in ancient Egypt, with Hesy Re being the first known physician and dentist in the world,” said Saleem.
From the 2D and 3D images of the CT scans, Saleem estimated that the “screaming mummy” was about 1.54 meters tall in life. From the morphology of the joint between the two pelvic bones, which smooths with age, the CT images indicated that she was approximately 48 years old at the time of death. He suffered from mild arthritis of the spine, evidenced by the presence of osteophytes (bone spurs) on the vertebrae.
The Screaming Mummy Mystery. Dyed wig
Saleem found no embalming incision, which was consistent with the finding that the brain, diaphragm, heart, lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys and intestine were still present. This was a surprise because the classical method of mummification in the New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC) included the removal of all these organs except the heart.
FTIR analysis of its skin showed that the “screaming mummy” was embalmed with juniper and frankincense, expensive materials that had to be imported into Egypt from the eastern Mediterranean area and from eastern Africa or southern Arabia.
In addition, his natural hair had been dyed with henna and juniper. The long wig, made of palm fiber, had been treated with quartz, magnetite and bleaching crystals, probably to strengthen the locks and give them the black color favored by the ancient Egyptians because it represented youth.
“These findings support the existence of trade in embalming materials in ancient Egypt. The expedition led by Queen Hatshepsut brought incense from Punt (possibly Somalia, Africa). Tutankhamun’s tomb also contained incense and juniper,” said Saleem.
Cause of death
No obvious cause of death was discovered. But what is the mystery of the “screaming mummy”? The rarity of the embalming material seems to rule out that the mummification process was carried out carelessly and that the embalmers simply neglected to close her mouth.
“The screaming facial expression of the mummy in this study could be interpreted as a cadaveric spasm, suggesting that the woman died screaming in pain or suffering,” Saleem hypothesized.
Cadaver spasm is a rare form of muscle stiffness usually associated with violent deaths in extreme physical conditions and intense emotions.
“The Screaming Woman is a true ‘time capsule’ of how she died and was mummified,” concluded Saleem.
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Source: www.descopera.ro
