A mummy uncovered during a 1935 archeological expedition at Deir el-Bahari near Luxor depicts a woman with her mouth wide open, perhaps shrieking in anguish.
Scientists now have an answer for the “Screaming Woman” mummies after performing a “virtual dissection” with CT images. It turns out she may have died in anguish and experienced a unique type of muscular stiffening known as a cadaveric spasm, which occurs at the time of death.
The investigation revealed that the woman was about 48 years old when she died, had mild spinal arthritis, and had lost several teeth, according to Cairo University radiology professor Sahar Saleem, who led the study, which was published on Friday in the journal Frontiers in Medicine.
Her body was well-preserved, having been embalmed approximately 3,500 years ago during ancient Egypt’s brilliant New Kingdom period with expensive imported substances such as juniper oil and frankincense resin, Saleem explained.
The ancient Egyptians believed that preserving the body after death was critical to ensuring a worthwhile existence in the afterlife. Apart from the heart, the internal organs were removed during the mummification process, but this had not happened with this woman.
“In ancient Egypt, embalmers took care of the dead body to make it lovely for the afterlife. That’s why they wanted to shut the dead’s mouths by strapping the jaw to the head, preventing the typical postmortem jaw drop,” Saleem explained.
However, the quality of the embalmment materials “ruled out that the mummification process had been careless and that the embalmers had simply failed to close her mouth.” In fact, they mummified her beautifully and dressed her in expensive burial attire, including two gold and silver rings and a long haired wig made from date palm fibers,” Saleem continued.
“This opened the way to other explanations of the widely opened mouth – that the woman died screaming from agony or pain and that the muscles of the face contracted to preserve this appearance at the time of death due to cadaveric spasm,” Saleem told the newspaper. “The true history or circumstances of the death of this woman are unknown, hence the cause of her screaming facial appearance cannot be established with certainty.”
Cadaveric spasm, a poorly known disorder, develops after significant physical or emotional trauma, with the tightened muscles becoming rigid shortly after death, according to Saleem.
“Unlike postmortem rigor mortis, cadaveric spasm affects only one group of muscles, not the entire body,” Saleem pointed out.
When asked if the woman was embalmed while alive, Saleem replied, “I don’t believe that this is possible.”
Saleem was unable to determine how the woman died, saying, “We frequently cannot determine the cause of death in a mummy unless there is CT evidence of fatal trauma.” Saleem cited evidence of a fatal head injury, slit neck and heart disease in three royal mummies.
The “Screaming Woman” was found at the site of the ancient city of Thebes during excavation of the tomb of a high-ranking official named Senmut, the architect, overseer of royal works and reputed lover of queen Hatshepsut, who reigned from 1479-1458 BC.
The mummy was found in a wooden coffin in a burial chamber beneath Senmut’s family tomb. Her name has not been confirmed, but her jewelry, which included gold and silver rings with representations of scarab beetles, a sign of resurrection, and jasper, revealed her social standing.
“She was likely a close family member to be buried and share the family’s eternal resting place,” Saleem advised.
The examination revealed details about her wig. Its spiral braids were hardened with the minerals quartz, magnetite, and albite, giving them the black color associated with youthfulness. Her natural hair had been colored using henna and juniper oil.
A number of ancient mummies from Egypt and the Americas have been discovered with facial expressions mimicking screams, hauntingly similar to Norwegian painter Edvard Munch’s “The Scream.”
“I use this painting in my public lectures about the screaming mummies,” Saleem told me.
