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- The group said no earlier testing had disproved that the mummy was not a “male priest,” like the mummy’s coffin was labeled.
- The mummified woman was estimated to be between 20 and 30 years olds and 26 to 28 weeks pregnant.
- The latest discovery was a part of the Warsaw Mummy Project at Warsaw’s National Museum.
An ancient Egyptian mummy previously expected to be a male priest is actually the mummy of a woman who was seven months pregnant, researchers said Thursday.
Polish researchers told The Associated Press (AP) X-Rays and computer testing revealed the new identity of the mummy that first arrived in Warsaw in 1826. The group said no earlier testing had disproved that the mummy was not a “male priest,” like the mummy’s coffin was labeled.
“Our first surprise was that it has no penis, but instead it has breasts and long hair, and then we found out that it’s a pregnant woman,” Marzena Ozarek-Szilke, an anthropologist and archeologist, told the AP. “When we saw the little foot and then the little hand (of the fetus), we were really shocked.”
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The mummified woman was estimated to be between 20 and 30 years olds and 26 to 28 weeks pregnant, researchers told the AP. The latest discovery was a part of the Warsaw Mummy Project at Warsaw’s National Museum. Findings were published in the latest edition of the Journal of Archeological Science.
“This is our most important and most significant finding so far, a total surprise,” Wojciech Ejsmond of the Polish Academy of Sciences told the AP. “It opens possibilities of learning about pregnancy and treatment of complications in ancient times.”
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