Scientists announce discovery of first pregnant Egyptian mummy

Polish scientists said on Thursday they discovered a pregnant Egyptian mummy, the first one in this state of the world, while taking x-rays of their Remains 2000 years old in the Warsaw National Museum.

“My husband Stanislaw, Egyptologist, and I, examining the X-ray images, noticed in the womb of the deceased an image familiar to the parents of three children: a small foot!», He stressed to journalists Marzena Ozarek-Szilke, anthropologist and archaeologist from the University of Warsaw. “It is not known why the fetus was not removed from the deceased’s uterus during his mummification.“, he pointed Wojciech Ejsmond, of Academy of Sciences Pole, who is also involved in the project.

“This mummy is truly unique. We did not find any similar cases. This means that “our” mom is the only one in the world to have a fetus.“Inside,” he said. Ozarek-Szilke hypothesize that there was the intention of “hide the pregnancy (…) or, perhaps, it had some significance related to beliefs about rebirth in the afterlife“.

Based on the study of the hieroglyphics inscribed on the sarcophagus, initially the mummy was considered to be that of a priest who lived between the 1st century BC. C. and the 1st century d. VS. Scientists, however, now believe he may be even older and are trying to find out the possible cause of his death.

The mummy was not opened, but one of the x-rays shows the woman to have long, curly hair., which descended on his shoulders. They calculate that the woman was between 20 and 30 years old when she died and that due to the size of the baby’s skull, she was between the 26th and 28th week of pregnancy.

“We were initially surprised to see that she didn’t have a penis, but rather breasts and long hair. We later found out that she was a pregnant woman“, He said Ozarek-Szilke a The Associated Press. “When we saw the little foot and the little hand (of the fetus) we were amazed“.

This discovery was announced in the latest issue of Journal of Archaeological Science, reviewed by a committee of specialists.

“This is the first known case of an embalmed body of a pregnant woman (…) This opens up new perspectives for research on pregnancy in Antiquity and on practices linked to motherhood.The article says. The mummy was brought to Poland in the 19th century and is part of the collection of antiques of the University of Warsaw.

It has been kept at the National Museum since 1917 and is exhibited in the sarcophagus.

(With information from AFP and AP) .-

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