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"Screaming Woman" mummy may have died in agony 3,500 years ago

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In 1935, the Metropolitan Museum of New York led an archaeological expedition to Egypt. In Deir Elbahari near Luxor, the site of ancient Thebes, they excavated the tomb of Senmut, the architect and overseer of royal works—and reputedly, lover—of the famed queen Hatschepsut (1479–1458 BCE). Beneath Senmut's tomb, they found a separate burial chamber for his mother, Hat-Nufer, and other unidentified relatives.

Here, they made an uncanny discovery: a wooden coffin holding the mummy of an elderly woman, wearing a black wig and two scarab rings in silver and gold. But what struck the archaeologists was the mummy's expression: with the mouth wide open, as if locked in a scream. They dubbed her the "Screaming Woman."

Now, approximately 2,500 years after her burial, researchers from Egypt have used the most advanced scientific techniques to examine the Screaming Woman and learn about her life and death. The results are published in Frontiers in Medicine.

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But what had caused the mummy's unforgettable expression? The rarity of the embalming material seemed to rule out that the mummification process had been careless and that the embalmers had simply neglected to close her mouth.

"The mummy's screaming facial expression in this study could be read as a cadaveric spasm, implying that the woman died screaming from agony or pain," hypothesized Saleem.

Cadaveric spasm is a rare form of muscular stiffening, typically associated with violent deaths under extreme physical conditions and intense emotion.

"The Screaming Woman is a true 'time capsule' of the way that she died and was mummified," concluded Saleem.

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