Egyptian scientists have uncovered the mystery of the famous mummy from Ancient Egypt, which «screams».
This information was reported by Science Alert, reports URA-Inform.
The face of the corpse froze in a terrible grimace, which may indicate the painful death of a person. Scientists noted that who the woman was during her lifetime and what her name was is unknown.
“Although the grimace on her face is quite creepy, scientists previously linked its appearance to a rather innocent process of unsuccessful mummification,” they said.
It is worth recalling that the mummy was discovered by archaeologists in 1935. Using modern research methods, it was established that the woman was short in life, her height was only one meter and 54 centimeters. She died at the age of 48 and suffered from arthritis. She also had several missing teeth, which probably happened during her life, because her jawbone showed signs of healing after tooth extraction.
A new scientific study of the mummified body was conducted by radiologist from Cairo University Sahar Salim and anthropologist from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of Egypt Samia El-Mergani. The researchers concluded that the woman's burial was so luxurious that it is unlikely that the mummification was carried out by incompetent craftsmen.
This unknown mummy was buried in a wooden coffin with two rings of silver and gold with carved jasper scarabs, and on her head was a braided wig. It was woven from palm fibers, under the wig was her natural hair, which was dyed with juniper and henna, and the wig itself was treated with quartz, magnetite and albite crystals.
This stiffened the braided fibers and dyed them black to resemble real hair. She was embalmed with expensive imported embalming material. This fact, as well as the excellent preservation of the mummy's appearance, refutes the traditional view that the distortion of the face indicates inept work by those who mummified the woman. According to the researchers, in isolated cases, the muscles of a dying person can freeze and become fixed in place.
This process is called cadaveric spasm and is not easy to reverse. It is usually observed in cases where a person died in a state of extreme discomfort,— the scientists add.
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