We believe we now understand how the “Screaming Woman” mummy would have perished 3500 years ago.

Photo Credit (Pixabay)

The ‘Screaming Woman’ was a well-known ancient Egyptian mummy, and a recent study has provided new insights into how she most likely passed away.

Additionally, the female mummy was “virtually dissected” using new, cutting-edge procedures.

The Metropolitan Museum of New York first discovered the mummy in 1935 while on an archeological trip to Egypt near Deir Elbahari.

‘Screaming Woman’ is the moniker given to the mummy because of her extraordinary facial expression.

It was discovered among the preserved remains of Senmut’s family, who was reportedly the lover of the renowned Queen Hatschepsut and the architect and overseer of Egyptian royal constructions in the 1400s BC.
The burial room had several mummified remains, but this particular corpse was unique due to the woman’s expression: her mouth was open and her face was twisted, perhaps in a scream.
At first, it was believed that the look might have resulted from subpar embalming techniques that left her mouth hanging open.

This strengthened the argument that her embalming was done improperly or in a hurry.
Sahar Saleem, a lecturer at Cairo University, has challenged this notion in a recent investigation.
Saleem discovered that the woman, who was thought to have been about 48 years old when she passed away, had been embalmed using pricey embalming supplies, juniper and frankincense, which had to be transported from either southern Arabia or east Africa or the eastern Mediterranean, respectively.
Despite the passage of 3500 years since her mummification, she remained remarkably well-preserved, suggesting that great care was taken during the process.
She was wearing a lengthy wig made of date palm fibers and had her natural hair dyed with henna and juniper.
This was subsequently treated with crystals of quartz, magnetite, and albite, which probably stiffened the hair and gave it the black color that the ancient Egyptians preferred since it symbolized youth.

‘Vampire’ woman’s 400-year-old face is recreated
“This contradicts the traditional belief that a failure to remove her inner organs implied poor mummification,” stated Dr. Saleem.
No clear cause of death was discovered, despite scans revealing the woman had multiple damaged or lost teeth, possibly extracted by the primitive dentists of the era, and minor arthritis throughout her life.
“The mother’s screaming facial expression in this study could be read as a cadaveric spasm, implying that the woman died screaming from agony or pain,” said Dr. Saleem.
A unusual type of muscle stiffness called cadaveric spasm is usually linked to violent deaths that occur in the midst of great emotion and harsh physical circumstances.
“The Screaming Woman is a true ‘time capsule’ of the way that she died and was mummified.”