Surprising discovery: discovery of the first pregnant Egyptian mummy

A team of archaeologists discovered the world’s first pregnant Egyptian mummy, royal tombs of the ancient city Thebes in Egypt. At first, researchers thought it was the priest’s body Hor-djehuti. But further analysis with CT scans revealed that the 2,000-year-old body It was a woman between the ages of 20 and 30 who was 28 weeks pregnant at the time of her death..

According to the study published in the scientific journal Journal of Archaeological Science, the discovery of the mummy took place in 2016, but after recent research by a group of Polish scientists from the Warsaw National Museum, examination revealed that the corpse under the bandages was that of a pregnant woman.

The remains of the world’s first pregnant Egyptian mummy belonged to a woman member of the elite of Thebesbecause her body was wrapped in high quality fabrics and she was buried with a large number of charms.

When the researchers performed the CT scans of the Thebes mummy, they were surprised to find the remains of a fetus in your abdomen. Measurements of the boy’s head suggested he was between 26 and 30 weeks gestation at the time of his death.

The woman was scanned as part of the Warsaw Mummies Project, which aims to investigate the items hidden under the bandages of the mummies. In turn, this project, launched in 2015, is part of a campaign to identify the sex, age and cause of death of mummies housed in museums.

Previous research on the mummy, which was unearthed in the early 19th century, has dated the remains to the 1st century BC This means that the woman lived near the time of the famous queen Cleopatra, when he Ancient egypt and the city of Thebes was booming.

After the discovery, the mummy was taken to Warsaw, Poland) in 1826, at the time of the great discoveries in the famous King’s Valley. And in 1917 it was loaned to the National Museum in Warsaw, where it is currently exhibited in the Ancient art gallery.

This discovery could help Egyptologists understand old medical procedures related to pregnancy. “It’s a fascinating find because we know little about perinatal health and childhood in ancient Egypt,” he said. Wojciech Ejsmond, researcher of Polish Academy of Sciences and author of the study.

“Doctors will be able to study, for example, intestinal contents of the fetus to collect information on the development of the immune system in ancient times, ”he concluded.

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