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East of Egypt's Nile River, the city of Luxorb spreads across a dry flood plane for 150 square miles. Like most of Egypt, Luxor has a hot desert climate, making it clear and sunny pretty much every day. It's so dry that a year can pass without a single drop of rain. And yes, the Nile does provide water for agriculture, but the surrounding geography is as dry as a bone. You've got desert landscapes, rolling sand dunes, rocky plateaus, and mountains. Today, the city is a thriving center of commerce and industry. But Luxer is best known as the former city of thieves, capital of Upper Egypt during the Middle and New Kingdom eras. Thieves first rose to prominence in the 4th century B.CE
after the Pelpeneisian war when it became a major military force and it remained a powerful capital for most of the following 500 years. Many of the ancient monuments and temples can still be seen dotting the urban landscape of Luxor. Those structures are primarily east of the Nile. On the west bank is the Theban Necropolis, featuring the Valley of the Kings, an ancient burial ground for Egyptian pharaohs, noblemen, and their families from the 18th to the 20th dynasty. A team of archaeologists is excavating a tomb in the Valley of the Kings when they make a surprising discovery.
There's a long row of connected mortuary temples in a valley called Deer El Bahri. That's an Arabic name for a monastery. Below the temples is a series of individual tombs including one temple for the site's architect Senmut along with his parents. But while excavating below the temple, a wooden coffin was discovered largely intact. The coffin was opened to reveal a mummy also intact of an adult female. It was laying on its back with extended legs and both arms were angled inward so the hands were covering the pelvic area. But the most arresting aspect of the mummy was its face. It was open mouth as if screaming. So who was this person and
what happened to her? The mummy was just over 5 ft in length from heel to crown. Its reddish brown skin was hard and thick and intact. Its fingernails and toenails were also all accounted for. And while some of the mummy's teeth were missing, those present were large, white, and strong. Aside from the openmouth scream position, the other notable feature was a large, thick wig braided right into the mummy's sparse hair on either side of the skull. The wig was composed of dark human hair falling to the shoulders as opposed to being bound as was the tradition. So, is it possible the mummy's wig could be a clue to her identity and her fate?
The use of wigs and hair extensions is an illustration of the Egyptians desire to attain physical beauty through lavish accessories. Wigs and extensions were frequently used in Egyptianerary rights along with other symbols of wealth and power like precious amulets and jewelry. But those were all also worn by living Egyptians, men and women, for the same reasons, to indicate their socioeconomic status. Egyptians crafted the wigs from human hair and supplemented them with plant or flax fibers. It's believed that dark or black hair was preferred as it represented youthful beauty. And while a
lot of effort went into the aesthetics such as styling with curls and braids, the wigs were also practical as they protected shaven scalps from the sun and maintained hygiene by reducing lice. A close examination of the screaming woman's wig leads to a critical connection. The mummy's wig was cleaved in two halves down the center, much like a middle part of natural hair, and the braids were tapered slightly at each end. It was an arrangement that was very similar to that of another female mummy buried nearby. The mother of the tomb's designer and builder, Senmoot.
Senmut is best known today for being the architect of the mortuary temple of Queen Hachepsuit, a female pharaoh who ruled for more than 20 years starting in 1479 B.C.E., Her temple was a stunning example of ancient Egyptian design. With three levels of terraces, all connected by ramps. As chief architect, Sinmoot would have had high status in Hashev's court. And with that, he was entitled to such privileges as securing a burial spot for his parents among the royals and other elites. However, while Sinanmud's own tomb was to be built under Queen Hashev's courtyard along with his parents, it was never completed.
Even more mysterious is the fate of Senmoot himself. He left public life abruptly and we still don't know why. And his remains were never interred in his elaborate but unfinished tomb. With so many open questions surrounding Senmouth, we can't conclude with any degree of certainty that the screaming woman was a relative of the architect. Professor Sahar Salem, whose forensic and historical analysis of the screaming mummy, revealed another clue. All of the vital organs, including the brain of the screaming woman, were still intact, and there was a complete absence of incisions to the body. This was inconsistent with the traditional Egyptian inbalming process for high
status individuals in which the body's viscera was removed before burial. It's possible that the people doing the imbalming did a sloppy job. Maybe they were rushed. Maybe they just didn't know what they were doing. They were incompetent. I don't know. That feels unlikely to me. I think a better explanation is that the mummy, the screaming woman, just wasn't a member of the royal family or the elite class at all. That idea is supported by the fact that aside from two scarab rings on her left hand, there were practically no jewels or ornaments or grave goods on the mummy or surrounding the coffin.
Also, her recumbent body position, where both arms were inclined toward her groin, was inconsistent with other elite women's burials in the New Kingdom. Female members of the royal family were typically buried with the left arm flexed across the chest and the right arm to the side. So is it possible that the screaming woman was some kind of outlier? A commoner buried among the elite of Egypt? Detailed analysis of the mummy's inbalming tells a different story. The Egyptians believe that it was critical to preserve the bodies of their pharaohs and kings in order to ensure their safe passage into the afterlife.
This involved removing vital organs, but also dehydrating the body with salt and then covering the dried skin with a blend of natural substances, oils, fats, and resins to prevent decay. Samples taken from the skin of the screaming woman revealed she'd been inbalmed with juniper and frankincense resin. Not only were these costly items, but they likely had to be imported from neighboring countries. Hair fibers from the wig had been dyed red with henna, a rare dye prepared with the powdered leaves of the henna tree. Taken together, the expensive imported inbalming materials, plus the wellpreserved condition of the screaming woman's body, indicate that her burial was consistent with those of the
pharaohs and elites that surrounded her. So maybe she was a member of that elite class after all. Although rare, the screaming woman isn't the only mummy in Egypt to be discovered with its mouth open wide. During the 18th dynasty, Princess Amos Maritamoon became the great royal wife of her younger brother, the pharaoh Amen Hotep I. As with the screaming woman, Maritamoon's remains were discovered in a wooden coffin in the Dere Elbari section of the Theban Necropolis. Her face also an openmouth death mask. A CT scan of Marita man skeleton revealed the young queen had suffered from sclerosis and arthritis, both of which can result in bone curvatures and constrictions of the body's joints. These findings indicate
she may have died of a heart attack and her body was not found before rigor mortise kicked in. And Maritamun's open mouth was likely due to the natural post-mortem muscle relaxation. So, it's possible that the screaming woman's open mouth was a direct result of a serious health condition or disease. If that's the case, is that what killed her?
