Archaeology: Foetus preserved within an Egyptian mummy was 'PICKLED' by ...

Archaeology: Foetus preserved within an Egyptian mummy was 'PICKLED' by ...
Archaeology: Foetus preserved within an Egyptian mummy was 'PICKLED' by ...

A foetus found within the abdomen of an Egyptian mummy last year was preserved for more than 2,000 years because it was 'pickled' like an egg by the acidification of the woman's body as she decomposed.

This is the conclusion of the team of researchers led from the University of Warsaw who revealed the presence of the unborn child's remains using a combination of CT and X-ray scans back in the April of last year.

The mummy — believed to be the first embalmed specimen known to contain a foetus — was taken out of Egypt by one Jan Wężyk–Rudzki, who donated the specimen to the University of Warsaw in the December of 1826.

A great deal of uncertainty surrounds the adult mummy — dubbed the 'Mysterious Lady' — with experts presently unsure who she was and exactly what caused her death in her twenties back in the 1st century BCE.

Even the location of her tomb has been lost to history, with some records suggesting she was found in the 'royal tombs in Thebes' — at a time when none were known from that location — and others in Giza's Pyramid of Cheops.

The researchers were able to determine that, based on the position of the foetus and how the birth canal was closed, the Mysterious Lady did not die in childbirth.

Previous studies concluded that the mummy was between 26–30 weeks into her pregnancy when she died.

According to the team, it is quite possible that other pregnant mummies may be 'hiding' in museums collections waiting to be identified through similar careful analyses of their soft tissues.

Scroll down for video

A foetus found within the abdomen of an Egyptian mummy (pictured) last year was preserved for more than 2,000 years because it was 'pickled' like an egg by the acidification of the woman's body as she decomposed

A foetus found within the abdomen of an Egyptian mummy (pictured) last year was preserved for more than 2,000 years because it was 'pickled' like an egg by the acidification of the woman's body as she decomposed

This is the conclusion of the team of researchers led from the University of Warsaw who revealed the presence of the unborn child's remains using a combination of CT and X-ray scans back in the April of last year .

This is the conclusion of the team of researchers led from the University of Warsaw who revealed the presence of the unborn child's remains using a combination of CT and X-ray scans back in the April of last year . 

The mummy — believed to be the first embalmed specimen known to contain a foetus — was taken out of Egypt by one Jan Wężyk–Rudzki, who donated the specimen to the University of Warsaw in the December of 1826. Pictured: the Mysterious Lady's coffin (left) cartonnage case (centre) and mummy (right, shown in photograph and X-ray)

The mummy — believed to be the first embalmed specimen known to contain a foetus — was taken out of Egypt by one Jan Wężyk–Rudzki, who donated the specimen to the University of Warsaw in the December of 1826. Pictured: the Mysterious Lady's coffin (left) cartonnage case (centre) and mummy (right, shown in photograph and X-ray)

The researchers were able to determine that, based on the position of the foetus and how the birth canal was closed, the Mysterious Lady did not die in childbirth. Previous studies concluded that the mummy was between 26–30 weeks into her pregnancy when she died. Pictured: the earliest-known depictions of the Mysterious Lady — with the mummy (top), the coffin (bottom left) and the cartonnage case (bottom right) — published in the Polish kids' magazine 'Przyjaciel dziecka' in 1862

The researchers were able to determine that, based on the position of the foetus and how the birth canal was closed, the Mysterious Lady did not die in childbirth. Previous studies concluded that the mummy was between 26–30 weeks into her pregnancy when she died. Pictured: the earliest-known depictions of the Mysterious Lady — with the mummy (top), the coffin (bottom left) and the cartonnage case (bottom right) — published in the Polish kids' magazine 'Przyjaciel dziecka' in 1862

NATRON EXPLAINED 

Natron is a naturally occurring salt mixture found in dried-out lake beds in some arid environments.

It was used by ancient Egyptians to both dry out and disinfected corpses during the embalming process. 

It is primarily composed of sodium carbonate decahydrate, with around 17 per cent sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and small quantities of sodium chloride (regular salt) and sodium sulphate.

Advertisement

The study of the 'Mysterious Lady' and her unborn child was undertaken by archaeologist and palaeopathologist Marzena Ożarek-Szilke of Poland's University of Warsaw and her colleagues.

'The foetus remained in the untouched uterus and began to, let's say, "pickle". It is not the most aesthetic comparison, but it conveys the idea!' the researchers explained in a blog post.

'Blood pH in corpses, including content of the uterus, falls significantly, becoming more acidic, and the concentrations of ammonia and formic acid increase with time.

'The placement and filling of the body with natron significantly limited the access of air and oxygen.'

'The end result is an almost hermetically sealed uterus containing the foetus. The foetus was in an environment comparable to the one which preserves ancient bodies to our time in swamps,' the team explained. 

The researchers explained how the unborn child would have been preserved over the millennia after radiologist Sahar Saleem of Egypt's Cairo University published a response to the team's original paper in which she questioned the identification of the foetus, given the absence of its bones in the scans.

'Recognizing foetal anatomy in mummy pelvic mass is a prerequisite to consider it a foetus,' Professor Saleem wrote in her paper.

According to Dr Ożarek-Szilke and her colleagues, however, foetal bones are very poorly mineralised during the course of the first two trimesters of pregnancy —

read more from dailymail.....

NEXT The UK's most sustainable restaurants are revealed - and it's bad news for KFC ... trends now