Radiological examination of an ancient mummy, said to have been found in royal tombs in Thebes in Upper Egypt, has proved it is the body of a pregnant woman. She came from the elite of Theban community and was carefully mummified, wrapped in fabrics, and equipped with a rich set of amulets. The body was partly robbed by antiquities dealers in the 19th century. It is not known what other items were inside the textiles of the mummy.
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Closer examination has revealed that the wo...man died between 20 and 30 years of age together with the fetus in the age between the 26th and 30th week of the pregnancy. This find is the only known case of an embalmed pregnant individual.
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This mummy provides new possibilities for pregnancy studies in ancient times, which can be compared with and related to current cases. Furthermore, this specimen sheds a light on an unresearched aspect of ancient Egyptian burial customs and interpretations of pregnancy in the context of ancient Egyptian religion.
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Above all, it is unknown who she was. Her mummy represents a fine example of ancient Egyptian embalming skills, thus suggesting her high social standing. The coffin in which she arrived in Warsaw in 1826 was made in the Theban region in the 1st century BCE for a male priest Hor-Djehuty. Her alleged findspot in the royal tombs at Thebes cannot be proven, but it also cannot be rejected at this stage of the research. It is possible that it is only a legend made up to increase the price of the mummy. These yet unresolved issues make her the Mysterious Lady of the National Museum in Warsaw.
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The results of the current investigations were published in Journal of Archaeological Science (https://www.sciencedirect.com/…/…/abs/pii/S0305440321000418…).