Nearly a century later, scientists have finally been able to open up the chilling mystery of an ancient Egyptian mummy who was found with a screaming face. Nicknamed "The Screaming Woman," the remains were discovered back in 1935 in Deir Elbahari, Egypt, inside the tomb belonging to the family of a royal architect.
And what differentiated her from typical mummification, in which internal organs are removed, is that all of her organs were still inside her body, which was quite perplexing for the scientists. It was initially thought that careless mummification had left her mouth wide open by accident.
Photo Credit: Sahar Saleem
Now, however, a new scientific analysis has given a different answer. According to Sahar Saleem, a researcher from Cairo University, it is cadaveric spasm-a rare form of muscular stiffening that occurs at the moment of death in cases of violent or extremely stressful death. It means she died screaming in agony.
Saleem and her co-author, Dr Samia El-Merghani, describe in a journal article published in Frontiers in Medicine how they "virtually dissected" the mummy using computerised tomography (CT) scanning technology and X-ray diffraction analysis to examine the skin, hair, and long black wig.
According to The Guardian, the team says the mummy was well preserved, estimating the woman would have stood about 1.55 metres (just over 5 feet) tall when alive. The CT scans offered further insights, revealing she died around 48 years old and had mild arthritis, including in her spine.
However, the researchers found no sign of an embalming incision, and all the organs were still inside the mummy.
"This was a surprise to me, as the classic method of mummification in the New Kingdom (1550-1069 BC) included the removal of all organs except the heart," said Saleem.
"We suggested that the reason [for] this opened mouth could be due to a painful death or emotional stress, and a cadaveric spasm made her face frozen to the appearance at the time of death," said Saleem. "Embalmers were unable to close the mouth and mummified the contracted body before it decomposed or relaxed, preserving her open mouth after death."
However, the cause of death remains unclear, while the researchers note that other experts have proposed that a screaming expression could be the result of burial procedures or changes after death.
