28 August 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

World’s First Pregnant Ancient Egyptian Mummy has been Discovered

Experts from the Polish Academy of Sciences aim to research all mummies in museums as part of the Warsaw Mummy Project.

As part of this project, researchers worked to discover more about the woman thought to be in her 20s.

The first mummified bones of an ancient Egyptian pregnant woman dating back over 2,000 years have been found in Thebes. According to scans of the body, she died at the age of 28 weeks pregnant.

The team found the remains of a fetus, estimated to be 26 to 30 weeks old, inside the woman using a combination of CT scans and X-rays. The first time a pregnant mummy has been discovered.

According to the authors of a paper published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, the body of the woman who died 2,000 years ago was carefully wrapped in fabrics and left with a rich collection of amulets to see her into the afterlife.

The team can’t say why the fetus was left inside the woman and not mummified separately, but it could be because it was too young to have a name and needed to travel to the afterlife inside its mother.

Study lead author Dr. Wojciech Ejsmond said this was the ‘first discovery of a pregnant embalmed body,’ adding: ‘There is no other so well preserved ancient body of a pregnant woman.

The body was wrapped in fine fabrics and laid to rest with a set of amulets representing Horus’ four sons, which the team believes indicate she was a powerful figure in Thebes.

World's First Pregnant Ancient Egyptian Mummy
The head and CT scans the mummy. The first remains of an ancient Egyptian mummified pregnant woman have been discovered in Thebes, dating back more than 2,000 years, the corpse was 28 weeks into her pregnancy when she died.

According to the study writers, the mummy was discovered in royal tombs in Thebes, Upper Egypt, and came from the elite of the Theban culture.

The woman was transported to Warsaw, Poland, in 1826, at the time of some of the most famous Egyptian Valley of the Kings findings, and is now on display at the National Museum in Warsaw.

‘This mummy provides new possibilities for pregnancy studies in ancient times, which can be compared with and related to current cases,’ study authors wrote.

‘Furthermore, this specimen sheds a light on an unresearched aspect of ancient Egyptian burial customs and interpretations of pregnancy in the context of ancient Egyptian religion.’

‘For Egyptologists, this is a fascinating discovery because we know little about perinatal health and childhood in ancient Egypt,’ Dr. Ejsmond added.

‘Physicians can study, for example, the intestinal content of the fetus to gather information on the development of the immune system in ancient times.’

The fetus was mummified alongside its mother in the lower part of the lesser pelvis and partly in the lower part of the greater pelvis. It was not, however, removed from its original location.

Related Articles

Ramses the Great

7 May 2021

7 May 2021

Ramses the Great was the name given to Ramses II, also known as Ramesses or Rameses. He was the third...

A burial complex dating to the Second Intermediate Period has been discovered at the Dra Abu el-Naga necropolis at Luxor

12 April 2023

12 April 2023

At the Dra Abu el-Naga necropolis in Luxor, a family burial complex from the Second Intermediate Period has been found....

Archaeologists Find 11 Sealed Middle Kingdom Burials Full of Jewelry in Luxor, Egypt

4 November 2024

4 November 2024

The South Asasif Conservation Project, an Egyptian-American mission working under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, has...

In China, 2700-Year-Old Face Cream Made from Moon Milk for Men was Found

14 February 2021

14 February 2021

At a Chinese excavation site with Chinese and German researchers, evidence of a 2,700-year-old male facial cream was found. In...

World’s Oldest Customer Complaint “at 3800 Years Old”

4 February 2021

4 February 2021

When we are not satisfied with the product we receive, what almost all of us do is complain about the...

World’s Oldest Place Name Signs

4 February 2021

4 February 2021

Throughout the history of the world, our interest and curiosity in ancient cultures and lives continue to increase day by...

Archaeologists unearths Unique Tomb of 6th Century BC Egyptian Commander at the archaeological area of ​​Abu Sir

24 July 2022

24 July 2022

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced on July 15 that a team of Czech archaeologists, while excavating near the Giza...

Who Are The Sea Peoples?

13 February 2021

13 February 2021

Who are the Sea Peoples, which are seen as the beginning of the dark age, and where did they come...

People knew how to make bread 14,400 years ago

15 May 2022

15 May 2022

Archaeological finds in Jordan’s Black Desert show that humans used stone ovens to bake bread 14,400 years ago. Researchers have...

1,000-year-old Chicken Egg Found in Israel

9 June 2021

9 June 2021

Archaeologists discover almost fully intact but nearly empty egg and three rare Islamic-period bone dolls in excavation of settlement dating...

A long-lost branch of the Nile helped in building Egypt’s pyramids – Scientists Say

1 September 2022

1 September 2022

The Giza Pyramids are one of the world’s most iconic cultural landscapes, and they have fascinated humans for thousands of...

Excavations at Meir Necropolis have turned up funerary artifacts from two distinct eras of ancient history

16 May 2023

16 May 2023

An Egyptian team of archaeologists has uncovered a collection of structural relics dated to the Byzantine and Late Period in...

World’s Oldest Murder

14 February 2021

14 February 2021

Researchers found a mass grave in a cave in Spain, now known as Sima de los Huesos, or the Pit...

Egypt’s Tanis bronze figurines shed light on ancient commerce

19 July 2021

19 July 2021

A research team told that the newly discovered 3,000-year-old bronze figurines recently unearthed in Tanis, Egypt, can answer questions about...

300-Year-Old Sacred Mummified Mermaid From Japan’s Mystery Solved

20 February 2023

20 February 2023

A mummified mermaid has been worshiped in Japan for centuries because locals believe it has healing powers. However, upon closer...