Until now, the world has only found mummies of kings, queens, priests, etc. But now, the first-ever pregnant mummy has been discovered by Polish researchers. Researchers previously believed this mummy to be the body of a male priest named Hor-Djehuti. He was a city writer and manager in the vicinity of Medinet Habu in western Thebes. The world, along with the researchers who unfolded the truth behind bandages of this mummy, was shocked to learn the truth.
The first-ever pregnant mummy was introduced to the world in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
The Mummy
The mummy was brought to Warsaw, Poland in 1826. It is believed to have been found in the royal tombs in Thebes. Thebes is an ancient city near the Nile River. These claims have yet to be verified. At first, the mummy was believed to be a priest’s body because of the inscriptions on the coffin. When the mummy was finally examined in 2015, under the Warsaw Mummy Project, they found that the mummy had no penis. It had breasts and long hair. There were also little hands and feet of a fetus, a sight that would shock anyone.
The woman was 20–30 years old when she died, and her baby was 26–30 weeks old. Dr. Ozarek Szikle, an anthropologist and archaeologist from the Faculty of Archeology of the University of Warsaw-Szilke, explained that, with time, Egyptian techniques of mummification became less sophisticated, which caused their early decay. This is compared to mummies during the early period of civilization. It is possible this mummified woman’s remains are older than scientists previously believed.
What shocked scientists most?
During the process of mummification, organs from the chest and lower abdomen are removed and then the body is preserved. Before mummification, the woman’s fetus should have been removed. This is what makes this mummy so special. It is the first-ever case of a pregnant mummy that the world has seen. According to Wojtek Ejsmond, the co-founder of the Warsaw Mummy Project, it is hard to understand why the fetus was not removed, but there are theories. It is possible that Egyptians at that time thought the baby did not have a soul or that it would be safer in the afterlife. Another theory is that the fetus was associated with some religious ritual, or it could be that, during that time, it was hard to remove the baby from the body without causing serious damage. It could also have been necessary for some reason to hide the woman’s pregnancy, which could be why the fetus was not removed. The gender of the baby is not yet known as it is curled in the embryonic position.
Egyptians did not live long due to a higher risk of infection and other causes. When researchers tried to figure out the cause of the woman’s death, they figured that it could have been because of her pregnancy. The death rate during pregnancies and childbirth was also high at that time.
Research
The research was done using modern technology. Scientists did not have to remove the mummy’s bandages, which comes with the risk of harming it. While researching, scientists found some of the deceased’s blood. In the next phase of the project, scientists would like to study the composition of the blood to figure out the reason behind the woman’s death.
Scientists did a CT scan and found no penis. They also did a three-dimensional visualization of the mummy. Thanks to tomographic technology, the visualization was performed without having to move the mummy. The 3D images showed long curly hair and mummified breasts.
Scientists hope to learn a lot more about this mummy. Since it is the first-ever case of a pregnant mummy, the world wants to know everything about it, for example, if she was buried during a ritual or why the fetus was not removed. There is also the question of why we haven’t found more pregnant mummies? Are there more to find or was she someone special whose pregnancy had to be hidden from the world?
