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Salma Elhandaoui | December 30th, 2024

An ancient Egyptian mummy, dubbed the “Screaming Woman,” has puzzled researchers with her open-mouthed expression of apparent pain or fear, seemingly frozen in time. Discovered in the 1930s in a burial chamber in Thebes, the remains date back about 3,500 years. Her haunting
“scream” is believed to be the result of a rare phenomenon called cadaveric spasm, a sudden muscle stiffening that can occur when someone dies a violent death under extreme physical and emotional stress. Radiologist Sahar Saleem and anthropologist Samia El-Merghani shared these findings in Frontiers in Medicine, hinting at a gruesome and mysterious death that preserved her alarming expression.

However, the cause of her death remains uncertain. Researchers have uncovered evidence of the significant care and expense involved in her embalming, suggesting the embalmers did not merely forget to close her mouth. CT scans revealed her internal organs were left intact, a rarity in Egyptian mummification. Further analysis showed the use of imported juniper resin and frankincense on her skin to preserve the body. Her hair, dyed with henna and resin, was styled into a braided wig made of date palm fibers dyed black, symbolizing youth in ancient Egypt. These meticulous efforts suggest her scream was not an oversight but rather a tragic snapshot of her final moments.

References

Bower, B. (2024). An Egyptian mummy’s silent “scream” might have been fixed at death. Science News. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/egyptian-mummy-scream-fixed-deathSaleem, S. N., & El-Merghani, S. (2024). Paleoradiological and scientific investigations of the screaming woman mummy from the area beneath Senmut’s (1479–1458 BC) Theban Tomb (TT71). Frontiers. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2024.1406225/full?ftag=MSF0951a18

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