New Study Analyzes 'Pregnant' Egyptian Mummy

News March 20, 2025

Mummified woman exhibited at the National Museum in Warsaw
K. Braulińska
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WARSAW, POLAND—Live Science reports that an international team of researchers has finally resolved the mystery surrounding a controversial Egyptian mummified person. The body of the individual, originally believed to be a male priest who lived during the first century b.c., has been in the collection of the University of Warsaw since 1826. Four years ago, researchers studied the mummified remains using X-ray imaging and CT scans. Based on those images, they determined that the remains were actually those of a woman in her 20s. Additionally, they claimed she was seven months pregnant and had suffered from a form of nasopharyngeal cancer. The announcement of the first-ever pregnant mummy caused a stir internationally. However, not all experts agreed with the study’s conclusions. Recently, 14 experts from nine countries and over a dozen scientific institutions, including the Warsaw Mummy Project (WMP), reexamined the remains. The team analyzed 1,300 CT images and definitively determined that the woman was not pregnant, and that the material thought to represent a fetus was simply placed there as part of the embalming process. The team also found no signs of cancer and suggested that any damage to the woman’s skull likely occurred when her brain was removed during mummification. For more on CT scanning of mummified bodies, go to "Inside a Pharaoh's Coffin," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2022.

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