The mummy nicknamed “the screaming woman” has intrigued specialists since its discovery. Today, researchers believe they have found an explanation for its unusual position.
This article is taken from the monthly Sciences et Avenir – La Recherche n°931, dated September 2024.
The mummy of the “screaming woman” was discovered in 1935 in the Theban necropolis of Deir el-Bahari, opposite Luxor. More precisely, in a wooden coffin located under the tomb of Senenmut (TT 353) a notable architect during the reign of the pharaoh Hatshepsut (around 1479 to 1457 BC).
A woman of about 50 years old who died 2500 years ago
Where does this screaming facial expression come from? It is not a poor quality embalming that would have caused it, but probably the intense pain of a cadaveric spasm during the death of this woman of about 50 years old 2500 years ago.
“The woman died screaming in agony or pain”
This is what emerges from an extremely detailed analysis of the mummy preserved at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and published in an article in the journal Frontiers in Medicine. “The screaming facial expression of the mummy in this study could be interpreted as a cadaveric spasm, implying that the woman died screaming in agony or pain.”assumes Dr. Sahar Saleem, co-author of this study.
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