Archaeologists Find First-ever Pregnant Mummy

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May 1, 2021

In a first, archaeologists have found a pregnant mummy from Ancient Egypt.

Mummy of pregnant woman

The remains are one of 40 at the National Museum of Poland, in Warsaw. The museum launched a large-scale of the mummies in 2015. While double-checking the pelvis area of the mummy in focus, scientists found an anomaly that they, after further testing, concluded was the leg of a fetus. Even more testing confirmed that the fetus was from 26 to 30 weeks old and that the mother had been from 20 to 30 years old when she died, in the 1st Century B.C.

The inclusion of a number of amulets, together with the body's being wrapped in linen, suggested to archaeologists that the woman was important politically or socially. The cause of death remains unknown.

The University of Warsaw acquired the mummy in 1826 and then transferred it in the same century to the National Museum. At one point, listings referred to "the mummy of lady." Hieroglyphs on the coffin included the name of a man, however, specifically the priest Hor-Djehuty. Addressing the incongruity, officials posited that the mummy was mistakenly put in a coffin meant for someone else.

Wojciech Ejsmond, director of the Warsaw Mummy Project, spearheaded the research, the findings of which appeared in the April edition of the Journal of Archaeological Science.

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