The Screaming Woman, a well-preserved mummy from Egypt, was embalmed with imported materials and examined using modern scientific methods. The examinations indicated unusual mummification practices and suggested that her screaming facial expression may have been caused by a corpse spasm. Photo credit: Sahar Saleem

Scientific analysis of the Screaming Woman mummy revealed that she was embalmed with expensive materials and her internal organs were preserved, challenging common mummification norms. Her facial expression may reflect a death in extreme pain.

In 1935, the Metropolitan Museum of New York led an archaeological expedition to Egypt. At Deir Elbahari, near Luxor, the site of ancient Thebes, they excavated the tomb of Senmut, the architect and overseer of royal buildings – and alleged lover – of the famous Queen Hatshepsut (1479-1458 BC). Beneath Senmut’s tomb they found a separate burial chamber for his mother Hat-Nufer and other relatives whose identities are still known.

Revelation of the screaming woman

In this burial chamber they discovered a wooden coffin containing the mummy of an old woman wearing a black wig and two scarab rings made of silver and gold. What impressed the archaeologists, however, was the expression on the mummy’s face: her mouth was wide open, as if she had let out a scream. They called her the “Screaming Woman.”

In a new study published in Limits of medicineResearchers from Egypt have used the most advanced scientific techniques to study the Screaming Woman and learn more about her life and death.

Advanced embalming techniques

“Here we show that she was embalmed using expensive, imported embalming materials. This, and the well-preserved appearance of the mummy, contradicts the traditional view that failure to remove her internal organs indicates poor mummification,” said Dr. Sahar Saleem, professor of radiology at Cairo University’s Kasr Al Ainy Hospital.

Until 1998, the Screaming Woman was kept at the Kasr Al Ainy Medical School in Cairo, where researchers studied many royal mummies in the 1920s and 1930s, including Tutankhamun. It was then transferred to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo at the request of the Ministry of Antiquities. Since 1935, the mummy’s coffin and rings have been on display at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

The condition of the mother and her scientific analysis

Saleem used CT scans to “virtually dissect” the mummy and estimate its age, identify pathologies, and determine the state of preservation. Saleem and her co-author Dr. Samia El-Merghani also used advanced techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis to identify the materials.

The authors found that the mummy was still in good condition 2,500 years after it was buried. The examination, conducted 89 years after the mummified woman was discovered, shows her unwrapped, lying on her back with her legs stretched out and her hands folded over her groin. She was missing several teeth – probably before her death, as there were signs of bone resorption, which occurs when a tooth falls out and the tooth socket has to heal. Other teeth were broken or showed signs of wear.

“Teeth lost over the course of a lifetime may have been extracted. Dentistry originated in ancient Egypt, and Hesy Re was the world’s first documented physician and dentist,” said Saleem.

Using 2D and 3D CT images, Saleem estimated that the Screaming Woman was 5 feet 1 inch tall when she was alive. Based on the morphology of the joint between the two pelvic bones, which becomes smoother with age, the CT images estimated that she was about 48 years old at the time of her death. She suffered from mild arthritis of the spine, as evidenced by the osteophytes, or “bone spurs,” on the vertebrae.

Saleem found no embalming incision, which was consistent with the discovery that the brain, diaphragm, heart, lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys and intestines were still present. This was a surprise because the classical mummification method in the New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC) involved the removal of all of these organs except the heart.

Insights into embalming and trade in antiquity

An FTIR analysis of her skin showed that the Screaming Woman had been embalmed with juniper and frankincense, expensive materials that had to be imported to Egypt from the eastern Mediterranean and East Africa and southern Arabia. Likewise, her natural hair had been dyed with henna and juniper. The long wig made of date palm fibers had also been treated with quartz, magnetite and albite crystals, probably to stiffen the locks and give them the black color that the ancient Egyptians preferred because it symbolized youth.

“These finds support the ancient trade in embalming materials in ancient Egypt. The expedition led by Queen Hatshepsut brought frankincense from Punt (possibly Somalia in Africa). The tomb of Tutankhamun also contained frankincense and juniper,” said Saleem.

There was no obvious cause of death.

Interpretation of the screaming expression

But what was the reason for the mummy’s unforgettable facial expression? The rarity of the embalming material seemed to rule out the possibility that the mummification process had been carried out carelessly and the embalmers had simply forgotten to close her mouth.

“The screaming facial expression of the mummy in this study could be interpreted as a corpse convulsion, meaning that the woman died screaming in agony or pain,” Saleem suggested.

Mortuary convulsions are a rare form of muscle stiffness typically associated with violent deaths under extreme physical conditions and intense emotions.

“The Screaming Woman is a true ‘time capsule’ that shows how she died and was mummified,” concluded Saleem.

Reference: “Paleoradiological and scientific investigations of the mummy of the Screaming Woman from the area beneath Senmut’s (1479–1458 BC) Theban tomb (TT71)” by Sahar N. Saleem and Samia El-Merghani, 11 June 2024, Limits of medicine.
DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1406225