It s not the first time this mummy has puzzled researchers. When it was donated to the University of Warsaw in 1826, the staff thought it was female, possibly because of the elaborate decorations on its sarcophagus. But after translating an Egyptian text on the sarcophagus, it seemed the mummy was Hor-Djehuty: Scribe, priest of Horus-Thoth worshiped as a visiting deity in the Mount of Djeme, royal governor of the town of Petmiten, Hor-Djehuty, justified by voice, son of Padiamonemipet and lady of a house Tanetmin, the translation read.
But computer tomography conducted in 2016 suggested the mummy might be female, revealing a delicate bone structure, long hair, and mummified breasts.
The first known pregnant Egyptian mummy has been discovered, surprising researchers studying the body of what was thought to be a male priest. Not only is this the first known deliberately mummified pregnant woman, but it also raises fascinating questions about who this woman was, whether this practice was rare, and even what it might mean for Egyptian beliefs about the afterlife.
Researchers from the Warsaw Mummy Project were just about wrapping up (sorry) research on about 40 mummies at the National Museum in Warsaw, Poland, when something in a scan of a mummy thought to have been a priest named Hor-Djehuty caught their eye: a tiny foot.
Call her an expectant mummy.
April 30, 2021
The world s first pregnant Egyptian mummy, as discovered by archaeologists during CT scans and X-rays. Photo by Olek Leydo, courtesy of the Warsaw Mummy Project.
Archaeologists have discovered the first known example of a pregnant mummy. The ancient remains are said date to the first century B.C. and were discovered in Thebes back in 1826 but experts had long assumed the specimen was male, thanks to inscription on the sarcophagus naming an Egyptian priest.
“Our first surprise was that it has no penis, but instead it has breasts and long hair, and then we found out that it’s a pregnant woman,” archaeologist Marzena Ozarek-Szilke told the Associated Press. “When we saw the little foot and then the little hand [of the fetus], we were really shocked.”
First pregnant Egyptian mummy surprises researchers
An Egyptian mummy previously believed to be a priest has turned out to be a pregnant woman.
The surprise discovery, the first of its kind anywhere in the world, was made by Polish scientists at the Warsaw Mummy Project.
The team, who since 2015 have been working to thoroughly examine human and animal mummies from Ancient Egypt at the National Museum in Warsaw, uncovered the body’s true identity after spotting a tiny foot in the abdomen on a scan.
According to Marzena Ożarek-Szilke, anthropologist and archaeologist from the Faculty of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw, she and her colleagues had already summarized their research and were preparing to submit their findings for publication.