An ancient Egyptian mummy, dubbed the “Screaming Woman” for what appears to be an open-mouthed look of pain or fear, may have had that expression fixed in place by a rare muscle reaction when she died.
The sudden muscle stiffness associated with violent deaths under extreme physical and emotional stress, known as cadaveric spasm, may explain this silent scream of the roughly 3,500-year-old mummy, researchers report Aug. 2 in Frontiers in Medicine.
The cause of death of the Screaming Woman remains undetermined, so a cadaveric spasm cannot be confirmed as the reason for her alarming appearance. But new evidence of the care and cost involved in preparing this woman’s mummified body shows that the embalmers didn’t just neglect to seal her mouth shut, say radiologist Sahar Saleem of Cairo University and anthropologist Samia El-Merghani. conservatory of mummies in the Ministry of Tourism and Egypt. Antiquities in Cairo.
#silent #blima #Egyptian #mummy #fixed #death
Image Source : www.sciencenews.org