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

Phys dot org ^ | Frontiers

[SunkenCiv]

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...

Until 1998, the Screaming Woman had been kept at Kasr Al Ainy School of Medicine in Cairo, where in the 1920s and 1930s researchers studied many royal mummies, including Tutankhamun. Subsequently, she was moved to the Cairo Egyptian Museum at the request of the Ministry of Antiquities. Ever since 1935, the mummy's coffin and rings have been displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of New York.

In the new study, Saleem used CT scans to "virtually dissect" the mummy and estimate her age, identify pathologies, and state of preservation.

[4yearlurker]

True about the jaw dropping. My mother in law died in her sleep. That morning we went to visit and found her in bed with her mouth open like that. Quite the shock and a hard image to get out of your mind. RIP Gran!

[moovova]

Who hasn’t wanted do that to a mother-in-law.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Years ago I read a book on Egyptology and what was found there. Some of the dead appeared to have been actually buried alive. Mostly servants and such.
I don’t remember the name of the book but it was published by MENTOR, who published quite a few such books in the 1960s.

[telescope115]

The first time I read A Cask of Amontillado was as a kid, in a Classics Illustrated comic book format. It was a great story. I did see a version on tv, I can’t say what production it was.

Poe was quite the storyteller.

[frank ballenger]

Always loved Vincent Price.

Odd astrological note.
Vincent Price, Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee were all Geminis. So am I and Donald Trump, of course.

People learn not to cross us. (Scary laughter....)

[ridesthemiles]

BURIED ALIVE?????

[SunkenCiv]

A little joke. She probably died, breathing through her mouth to the last, and was dead a few hours before everyone else got up that morning.

[Forward the Light Brigade]

If she was buried alive she must have done something really bad. That was a punishment I believe reserved for people who struck at the Royal Family—or murdered a member of the pharaoh’s family. This would mean they could not go to the afterlife—No heaven in the land of the west for you.

[AFret.]

Obviously a Democrat woman...Perhaps related to AOC..or Lizzie Warren.