Autopsy of 'Screaming Woman' Mummy Finally Reveals 3500-Year-Old Secret

Mummies have been an intriguing topic of discussion among historians because of the window they provide to the past. A mummy discovered in 1935 in the necropolis of Thebes in Egypt startled the archaeologists due to its facial expression, Newsweek reported. The uncanny expression on the corpse's face gave it the moniker "Screaming Woman".

Archaeologists found the mummy during the Metropolitan Museum of New York's excavation of the tomb of Senenmut, an architect and high steward, who lived during the 18th Dynasty (1550–1292 BCE), the first of the New Kingdom, Newsweek reported.

The "Screaming Woman" has been estimated to have been buried almost 3,500 years ago, USA Today reported. 

The woman was wide-mouthed, and it seemed that she died while screaming. A new study backs up the claim that the woman was in physical pain when she took her last breaths, leading to her 'screaming' face during mummification.

Several researchers have concluded that the uncanny expression on the woman's face is because her mummification process was not properly done, Newsweek reported. This opinion was further verified by the mummy's scans which revealed that all her organs were intact.

During the embalming of the body, Egyptians usually removed all the organs, except the heart, because it was considered to be the source of personality, intellect, and memory.

Sahar Saleem, a Radiologist Professor at Cairo University's Kasr Al Ainy Hospital, after analyzing the mummy and examining the materials used in the woman's mummification process, rejected the theory of poor mummification, Newsweek reported.

Saleem found that the corpse was embalmed with costly material that must have been imported from places like East Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean, and Southern Arabia.

As per Saleem, the fact that expensive material was used shows that a lot of care went into putting the woman's body at peace, Newsweek reported. "This, and the mummy's well-preserved appearance, contradicts the traditional belief that a failure to remove her inner organs implied poor mummification," she added.

Salem further claims that the reason all organs are in place was because she was embalmed using some other style of mummification, Newsweek reported. She cites the well-preserved state of the mummy, to back up her assertion.

The researcher argues that had it been a botched mummification, the woman would not have been buried with so much care that her body remained in such a good state, even after so many centuries. 

Saleem hopes this new perspective encourages experts to dig deep into Egyptian culture and find other prevalent mummification processes, Newsweek reported. "This information modifies our static knowledge of mummification and creates fresh perspectives for better comprehension of the process," she shared. 

Saleem used CT scans, to understand the inner workings of the woman's body at the time of death and the state of her preservation, Newsweek reported.

She used advanced techniques such as scanning electron microscopy to find the materials used in the embalming process. In this method, a surface is bombarded with the help of a beam of electrons, to create a high-resolution image of the subject. 

In the study, Saleem also analyzed the woman's body to find out if she had any health problems, Newsweek reported. The study revealed that the woman had arthritis and dental problems.

As per the research, the woman was almost five feet tall and died at the age of 48. Though no serious issues were found, Saleem believes that the woman's facial expressions were because of cadaveric spasms. This post-death phenomenon happens due to the stiffening of muscles. The condition occurs only when the individual is going through severe pain, which ultimately becomes the cause of their death.

The stiffened muscles in this case become very hard to move, which justifies why embalmers were unable to close the woman's mouth, Newsweek reported.

"Her well-preserved body was like a time capsule that enabled us to know how she lived, the diseases she suffered from, and capture her death that could be in pain," Saleem said, Live Science reported. "This type of study humanizes the mummy and lets us look at her as a human being."

The mummified body of the "Screaming Woman" is now stored at Cairo's Egyptian Museum, CNN reported.