An Egyptian mummy’s silent ‘scream’ might have been fixed at death

An ancient Egyptian mummy, dubbed nan “Screaming Woman” for what appears to beryllium an open-mouthed look of symptom aliases fear, mightiness person had that look fixed successful spot by a uncommon musculus guidance erstwhile she died.

Sudden muscular stiffening associated pinch convulsive deaths nether utmost beingness and affectional stress, known arsenic cadaveric spasm, could explicate this astir 3,500-year-old mummy’s silent scream, researchers study August 2 successful Frontiers successful Medicine.

The Screaming Woman’s origin of decease remains undetermined, truthful a cadaveric tense cannot beryllium confirmed arsenic nan logic for her alarming look. But caller grounds of nan attraction and costs progressive successful preparing this woman’s mummified assemblage indicates that embalmers did not simply neglect to adjacent her mouth, opportunity radiologist Sahar Saleem of Cairo University and anthropologist Samia El-Merghani, conservator of mummies astatine Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities successful Cairo.

Excavations successful 1935 and 1936 recovered nan unnamed woman’s mummy successful a funeral enclosure for relatives of Senmut, an designer during Queen Hatschepsut’s reign from 1479 B.C. to 1458 B.C.

In nan caller study, CT scans showed that nan woman’s soul organs had not been removed, successful opposition to typical Egyptian embalming methods (SN: 8/31/23). Microscopic and chemic analyses conducted by Saleem and El-Merghani recovered that imported juniper resin and frankincense applied to nan tegument had kept nan assemblage well-preserved.

Further attraction was taken to dye nan woman’s earthy hairsbreadth pinch juniper resin and henna, nan study finds. The mummy besides wore a braided wig made from day thenar fibers that had been stiffened and dyed achromatic pinch a mineral treatment. The colour achromatic represented younker to ancient Egyptians, Saleem says.