(Klorin.L, 2021)
While conducting a comprehensive study in Poland, one scientist was looking over one of the mummies and noticed something obscure. What the researcher found was later confirmed to be a small fetus leg, which was estimated to be around 26 to 30 weeks old. This discovery is the first of its kind-- a mummy of a pregnant woman (France-Presse.A, 2021).
Previously, this mummy was found in the royal tombs of Thebes in Egypt, donated to the University of Warsaw in 1826, but was eventually brought to the National Museum in Warsaw. During that time, it was simply named the “mummy of a lady.” However, In 1990, it was discovered that the hieroglyphs on its coffin was found to be Hor-Djehuty, an Egyptian priest. Along with some radiological examinations, this led them to believe that the gender of the mummy was male (Waller.A, 2021).
The reason for the mis-gendered mummy was most likely because she was accidentally placed into the wrong coffin by antiquity dealers during the 19th century or during ancient times. This wouldn’t be a very hard story to believe as there have been many of such instances in the past (Waller.A, 2021).
With this new finding, we may get to learn more about what ancient Egyptians thought about the afterlife of unborn infants, as well as the health conditions of pregnant women.
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