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Photos: 3,500-year-old ‘screaming’ mummy’s open mouth suggests agonizing death

The woman may have died in excruciating pain, her final moments marked by a scream.

Published: Aug 02, 2024 01:33 AM EST

Mrigakshi Dixit

a month ago

Prof Sahar Saleem with the Screaming Woman mummy.

Sahar Saleem

In 1935, archeologists discovered a mummy unlike any other.

Dubbed the “Screaming Woman,” this mysterious mummy has captivated the world with her haunting expression.

For decades, her story remained shrouded in mystery. But now, thanks to cutting-edge technology, scientists are finally able to uncover the mysteries of her life and death.

They speculate that the woman died in agonizing pain, with her dying moments characterized by a scream. That was locked as it is forever.

The mummy was found in the tomb of Senmut — Queen Hatshepsut’s architect — located in Deir Elbahari near Luxor, the ancient city of Thebes, Egypt. Back then, the excavation was led by the Metropolitan Museum of New York archeologists.

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Locked in scream
Archaeologists excavated the burial place of Senmut, the architect responsible for royal projects and rumored lover of the renowned Queen Hatshepsut, who reigned from 1479 to 1458 BCE. Below Senmut's tomb was a separate chamber for his mother, Hat-Nufer, and unnamed relatives. Inside, they found a chilling surprise: a wooden coffin containing the mummy of an aged woman. She wore a black wig and two scarab rings but it was her agonized expression, mouth wide open, that truly shocked them. The mouth appeared as if “locked in a scream.”
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Extensive CT examination
A team of experts led by Dr Sahar Saleem, a professor of radiology at Kasr Al Ainy Hospital of Cairo University, studied this mummy. They used techniques like CT scans, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and x-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) to examine the mummy in unprecedented detail. And the findings have challenged many of the long-held beliefs about mummification.
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Mummified with organs
The mummy was remarkably well-preserved, considering it was buried 3,500 years ago. The analysis demonstrated that she was preserved using expensive embalming materials. Interestingly, she was mummified with organs including brain, diaphragm, heart, lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, and intestine. This finding is contrary to the typical New Kingdom mummification process (1550-1069 BCE), which involved removing all organs except the heart. “Despite the organs were not removed, the mummy was well-preserved. This was strange!” Saleem told Interesting Engineering (IE).
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Laid in prone position
The examination revealed the mummy in a prone position, arms crossed over the pelvic area. Multiple teeth were missing, with clear evidence of “bone resorption” suggesting they were extracted or fell out before death. Other teeth exhibited breakage or erosion. Moreover, the evidence of bone spurs on her vertebrae suggested she had mild spinal arthritis.
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Cadaveric spasm
But the most intriguing discovery was the cause of her terrifying expression. Researchers believe it may be a result of a rare muscle stiffening condition called cadaveric spasm, often associated with violent deaths. “This opened the way to other explanations of the widely opened mouth that the woman died screaming from agony or pain and that the muscles of the face contracted to preserve this appearance at death time due to cadaveric spasm,” Saleem told IE.
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High status woman
The Screaming Woman was a woman of high status. Her body was embalmed with rare, imported materials like juniper and frankincense. The woman was calculated to be 1.54 meters in height and died at an estimated age of 48. As per the press release, the date palm fiber wig was treated with quartz, magnetite, and albite to stiffen and darken it, mimicking the youthful black hair popular in ancient Egypt. “The woman wore two expensive rings made of gold and silver indicating her good socio-economic standard. This study reshapes and changes our understanding of mummification in ancient Egypt,” Saleem noted. The results were published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine.