‘Screaming Woman’ mummy died in pain, new study suggests : NPR

For nearly a century, the “Screaming Woman” mummy found in Luxor, Egypt, haunted viewers with her open-mouth facial expression. Now, new evidence by researchers in Egypt suggest more harrowing details.

On Friday, Cairo University radiologist Dr. Sahar Saleem and anthropologist Samia El-Merghan reported that the woman may have “died screaming from agony or pain.” The evidence was found through a digital unwrapping — using CT scans and other tools. The study was published Friday in the journal Frontiers in Medicine.

The researchers added that the woman’s facial expression might have been caused by cadaveric spasm, which occurs during “severe physical or emotional activity.”

They also estimated that the woman died at 48 years old and was about 5-foot-1.

The findings were not definitive and the study emphasized that a mummy’s appearance could be affected by a range of factors, from the burial procedures to post-mortem alterations.

But it proved more plausible than the theory that embalmers simply neglected to properly wrap her mouth closed — which likely explained other ancient Egyptian mummies with open mouths.

But the researchers did not find evidence to suggest that the woman had a poor mummification process.

“The funerary techniques the embalmers employed on the corpse of mummy CIT8, including the use of a wig, rings, pricey imported embalming materials, and placing the mummy in a wooden coffin, [indicated] good mummification quality,” they wrote.

The mummy’s cause of death remains unknown. The “Screaming Woman” was discovered between 1935 and 1936 near the tomb of Senmut in Luxor and later stored at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. She was believed to be his relative, according to the study.

Senmut was an architect during the reign of ancient Egypt’s most powerful female leader, Queen Hatshepsut. Senmut’s final years also remain a mystery.