New insights into a mummy frozen in time with its mouth open that has both haunted and fascinated archaeologists for decades have revealed that its vivid expression was not the result of a sloppy embalming job, as previously believed, but rather a death in great agony. But we still don’t know what happened in its final minutes.
The mummified figure known as the ‘screaming woman’ was discovered in 1935 in a burial chamber reserved for family members beneath the tomb of Senmut, near Luxor, Egypt. The elderly woman, wearing a black wig and gold and silver scarab rings, was mummified in a wooden coffin with an expression of nothing but terror on her face. This was initially believed to be an oversight on the part of the embalmers, who had neglected to cover her mouth and hold her body in a more ‘peaceful’ pose.
Cairo University
Cairo University researchers used cutting-edge technology to “virtually dissect” the woman, revealing that the way she was prepared for burial had much more to her 3,500-year-old story than previously thought.
“We show here that he was mummified with expensive, imported embalming material,” said Dr. Sahar Saleem, a professor of radiology at Cairo University's Qasr Al Ainy Hospital. “This, and the mummy's well-preserved appearance, contradict the traditional belief that failure to remove the internal organs signifies poor mummification.”
The woman was buried with all her organs intact, which was very unusual for New Kingdom mummification (1550–1069 BC), as corpses had all their organs removed except their hearts. Here, the woman's brain, diaphragm, heart, lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, and intestines were still intact, and researchers found no evidence of mummification cuts to suggest they had been removed.
“The screaming woman is a real 'time capsule' of how she died and was mummified,” Saleem said.
Saleem and study co-author Dr. Samia El-Merghani used scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) to “virtually examine” the woman's remarkably intact body and the materials in which she was buried, to learn about her condition and age at the time of death.
Cairo University
2D and 3D CT scans revealed the woman was 1.54 m (5 ft) tall, and pelvic bone joint morphology told scientists she was around 48 years old when she died. Bone spurs (osteophytes) along her spine also suggested she suffered from mild spinal arthritis.
An FTIR analysis of her skin found that her body had been prepared with juniper and frankincense – two expensive imports at the time that must have been sourced from the Levant and East Africa or southern Arabia. The wig she was buried in was made of palm fibers treated with quartz, magnetite and albite crystals. Scientists believe this was done to give the wig its rigidity and a black color, a representation of youth in Egypt at the time. Underneath, her natural hair had also been carefully processed and dyed with henna and juniper.
“These findings support the ancient trade in embalming materials in ancient Egypt,” Saleem said. “The expedition led by Queen Hatshepsut brought back frankincense from Punt (probably Somalia in Africa). Tutankhamun's tomb also contained frankincense and juniper.”
The bone loss in the woman’s jaw suggested that she had lost several teeth before her death, and others were broken or likely in poor condition by the end of her life. However, these missing teeth could have been the result of early dental procedures.
“Teeth lost during life may have been extracted,” Saleem said. “Dentistry originated in ancient Egypt, and Hesy Re was the first recorded physician and dentist in the world.”
But one question remains: What caused the screaming woman to be mummified with such an anguished expression on her face? Researchers can't be sure—but unlike the lazy burial procedures that have long been around, she likely died in agony. And they hypothesize that it may have been caused by cadaver spasms.
“The screaming facial expression of the mummy in this study can be read as a cadaveric spasm, implying that the woman died screaming from pain or agony,” Saleem said.
Cadaveric spasm, or postmortem spasm, occurs when a group of muscles that engage just before death become rigid and stiff. This is often evidence of violent, physical, and deeply emotional deaths.
“The widely opened mouth may be the result of a facial expression of pain before death and may have been fixed by cadaveric spasm,” the researchers concluded. “The study also explores how rigor mortis, cadaveric spasms, tissue decomposition, burial techniques, and postmortem changes may contribute to a mummy's screaming appearance.”
The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine.
Source: Cairo University via Scimex