The results were shocking: the secret of the most unusual Egyptian mummy was revealed (5 photos)

The mystery of the mummy that has puzzled archaeologists for centuries has finally been solved! The "Mysterious Lady", whose remains were kept at the University of Warsaw, turned out to be not just an ancient Egyptian, but a real sensation that turned the scientific world upside down.





Gender ambiguity

A group of Polish specialists led by archaeologist Kamila Braulińska took on a difficult task - to shed light on a curious artifact stored at the University of Warsaw. We are talking about the mummy of the "Mysterious Lady".

Indeed, over the past decades, all sorts of anomalies have happened to it.

This burial was discovered two centuries ago. Where exactly is unknown: either in Thebes (the territory of modern Luxor), or in the famous pyramid of Cheops. In 1826, the mummy was transferred to the University of Warsaw for safekeeping.

And here is the first oddity: for more than a century, not a single scientist was interested in it. Apart from a short entry in the catalog - nothing.



By the way, no "lady" is mentioned in the archival card. It was believed that this was the mummy of a man who lived in the 1st century BC. Perhaps a certain high-ranking priest named Hor-Djehuti. At least that's what was written on the sarcophagus.

They decided to check this only in 2015. And for good reason. The CT images did not reveal anything that resembled male genitalia. But they clearly saw thick long hair and — mammary glands.

However, something else really surprised the experts...

Something went wrong

For a more detailed analysis, they scanned the abdominal cavity of this woman, who died between the ages of 20 and 30.

"When we saw a small leg, and then a small hand, we were really shocked," anthropologist Marzena Ozarek-Schilke, head of the research group, recalled in an interview with journalists.





For the scientific world, this was a sensation - the first perfectly preserved mummy of a pregnant woman in history. Scientists came to the conclusion that the ancient Egyptian woman was seven months pregnant.

When preparing to 3D print the body, someone from the team noticed that there were serious defects on the facial bones. According to Ozarek-Schilke, these are much more serious than those that arise during the mummification process, when the brain is removed through the nose.

Oncologist Rafal Stets, who participated in the study of the mummy, suggested that the bone changes could have been caused by an aggressive form of cancer. No other pathologies were found in the "lady".

However, not everyone supported this version. In particular, Sahar Selim, a professor of radiology at Cairo University, pointed out that Polish scientists did not provide any anatomical evidence that there was a fetus in the woman's womb.



To her question "How did the baby's bones disappear, but the soft tissues were preserved?" the Poles answered: due to the action of various acids.

"In the mother's womb, in the complete absence of oxygen (due to the embalming of the body), an aggressively acidic environment was formed. Ultimately, it literally "salted" the fetus," the study report says.

Everything fell into place

For almost ten years, Sahar Selim's arguments remained in the shadow of the excitement that arose around the "world's first pregnant mummy to die of cancer." Of course, the media played a significant role in this.

Only recently, archaeologist Kamila Braulinskaya and her colleagues were able to prove that the Cairo radiologist was right. To do this, all they had to do was look through almost one and a half thousand CT images, which for some reason their predecessors had not taken into account.



For the purity of the experiment, the scientists worked in four independent groups and did not exchange opinions with each other. Everyone got the same result.

First, there was no pregnancy. What Ozarek-Shilke took for a child was actually "tissue clots". According to Braulinskaya, this happens if the embalming process is disrupted. For example, the concentration of the solution is too high. Or not all the internal organs were removed.

Similarly with the "cancer" of the "Mysterious Lady". She did not have any oncology. The priests simply did not remove the brain very carefully, severely damaging the bones of the skull.

And it is impossible for a baby to "marinate" in the womb. As Braulinskaya noted, after treating the abdominal cavity with tannins, there is no point in talking about any "acidic environment". But the version, she added ironically, is beautiful.