She looks uncannily like The Scream painting by Edvard Munch, but exactly why an ancient Egyptian mummy has such a startling expression has long puzzled researchers. Now they say they may have the answer – suggesting the woman died in agony.
The woman is believed to have been buried around 3,500 years ago and was discovered in 1935 in a wooden coffin under the tomb of Senmut – an important architect during the reign of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut.
She was not alone: archaeologists also discovered a burial chamber for Senmut’s mother, Hat-Nufer, at the site near Luxor, as well as individual burials of his family members.
“Although no name was recorded on the screaming mummy, she was probably a close relative to be buried and share the family’s eternal resting place,” said Dr Sahar Saleem, professor of radiology at Cairo University.
Writing in the journal Frontiers in MedicineSaleem and her co-author Dr Samia El-Merghani report how they used computed tomography (CT) scanning technology to “virtually dissect” the mummy as well as techniques including X-ray diffraction analysis to identify the skin, hair examination and long black wig.
The team says the mummy was well preserved, and estimates that the woman would have stood about 1.55 meters (just over 5 feet) tall when alive. The CT scans offered further insights, revealing that she died aged around 48 and had mild arthritis – including in her spine.
However, the researchers found no sign of an embalming cut, and all the organs were still inside the mummy.
“This was a surprise to me, as the classical method of mummification in the New Kingdom – 1550-1069 BC – included the removal of all organs except the heart,” said Saleem.
While study notes such an omission was often due to an ugly mummification of the middle and poorer classes, Saleem said this did not appear to be the case for the Screaming Woman.
Not only was she buried with two scarab rings in silver and gold, but the researchers found that the embalming materials included juniper resin and frankincense—expensive imported ingredients that may have aided the body’s preservation.
The analyzes revealed juniper, as well as henna, on the woman’s hair, while the wig was made of braided date palm fibers and showed traces of juniper and incense as well as various minerals – possibly, suggests Saleem, to the fibers tight and to give them. a youthful black color.
The researchers suggest that the findings not only provide insights into mummification, wig making, and the ancient trade in embalming materials but indicates the woman’s open mouth was unlikely to have been due to careless embalmers who neglected to close it.
Instead, the team suggests that the woman’s expression may represent a rare, immediate form of rigor mortis.
“We suggested that the reason [for] this open mouth may be due to [a] painful death or emotional stress and cadaveric spasm had frozen her face to the appearance at the time of her death,” Saleem said. “Unable to close the mouth, embalmers mummified the contracted body before it decomposed or relaxed, preserving her open mouth after death.”
However, the cause of death remains unclear, while the researchers note that other experts have suggested that a screaming expression may be the result of burial procedures or changes after death.
Salima Ikram, distinguished university professor at the American University in Cairo, was not convinced by the team’s proposal.
“I don’t really think this spasm would have been something the embalmer would have tried to keep forever. So I think [the expression] is [down to] something else,” she said, adding that the drying process during mummification takes 40 days. “Surely they could have rearranged her features [in that time],” Ikram said.
Dr Stuart Hamiltona registered Home Affairs forensic pathologist, said there was debate about the idea of cadaveric spasms, adding that he had never seen a convincing case.
“I’m open-minded to the idea that it exists, although it’s certainly controversial,” he said. But he added a complicated explanation was not necessary: ”I would think that the mouth just fell open and it ended up staying that way.”
Although rare, the woman is not the only “screaming” mummy. Saleem and colleagues previously studied the body of what is believed to be Prince Pentawere, the son of Pharaoh Ramesses III who was involved in a plot to kill his father.
“Pentawere’s body was barely embalmed, which could indicate that the embalmers neglected to cover his mouth, probably as a punishment that made him scream forever,” Saleem said.
The remains of Princess Meritamun, believed to be the sister of King Ahmose, who ruled from about 1550 to 1525 BCalso has such an expression.
Saleem and colleagues say their previous work suggests that Meritamun died of a sudden and massive heart attack. “The wide-opened mouth was probably natural postmortem jaw drop maintained due to a postmortem muscle contraction — rigor mortis — that prevented embalmers from closing her mouth,” Saleem said.
