Back
This Is the First Known Pregnant Mummy
May 3, 2021
A radiological examination of a 2,000-year-old mummy presumed to be a male priest shows it’s actually the preserved remains of a woman—and a pregnant one at that.
New research in the Journal of Archaeological Science documents the “first known case of a pregnant embalmed body,” as the archaeologists, led by Wojciech Ejsmond from the Warsaw Mummy Project, write in their study.
Originally dubbed “mummy of a lady,” the linen-wrapped body was donated to the University of Warsaw in 1826. During the 1920s, and then again in the 1960s, hieroglyphics on the coffin were translated to “Hor-Djehuty,” which corresponds to the name of a male Egyptian priest. Radiological scans made in the 1990s further reinforced the interpretation of the mummy as being male, but the “current research proves that the sex of the mummy is undoubtably female,” as the archaeologists write in their study.
Indeed, this could be a classic case of the mummy not being in its original coffin, which happens on occasion. The authors of the paper “can only speculate that the mummy was placed in a wrong coffin by accident in ancient times, or was put into a random coffin by antiquity dealers in the 19th century.”
N
But in addition to unexpectedly detecting breasts and female genitalia, the researchers spotted something far more unusual and noteworthy: a fetus.
0Shares
0Comments
0Favorites
0Likes
Say something to impress...
Loading...
Comments
Hot

No content at this moment.

Relevant people
Do Future
12852 Followers
Work out your future
Related