Egypt: The surprising discovery of a ‘pregnant’ mummy by Polish archaeologists

The burial of a 7 months pregnant woman 

Against all odds, and after a series of research, X-rays and computer tests on the Egyptian mummy, the Polish researchers were more than surprised! Indeed, if they expected to study the body of a male priest, it is finally the burial of a seven months pregnant woman that they discovered. And yet, the inscription on the coffin was indeed the tomb of a man of faith. 

The team of researchers, still shocked by their discovery, declared that this mummy, brought to Warsaw in 1826, was the very first known case in the world of an ancient mummy of a pregnant woman and so well preserved!

“Our first surprise was that she did not have a penis, but instead the mummy had breasts and long hair. Then we discovered that it was a pregnant woman” said Marzena Ozarek-Szilke, anthropologist and archaeologist. “When we saw the little foot, then the little hand [of the fetus], we were really shocked.”

And the results of the research are formal: The researchers estimated that the woman was between 20 and 30 years old and said that the size of the baby’s skull suggested that she was 26 to 28 weeks pregnant.

Never seen in Egyptian archaeological history!