Archaeologists discover teenage mummy likely died while delivering twins

Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email

Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice

A teenage mummy specimen that was sitting in the Smithsonian Museum for over 100 years likely died while delivering twins, archaeologists say.

The remains of the mummy, excavated in 1908, was of a teenager between 14 and 17 years old who may have died during childbirth, according to anthropologist Francine Margolis from George Washington University in the US.

Researchers say the teenager had an associated foetus which was wrapped and placed between her legs during mummification over 2,000 years ago.

Field notes from 1908 confirmed she had died from complications during childbirth.

But when scientists conducted CT X-ray scans of the mummy to obtain its pelvic measurements and determine the teenager’s cause of death, they found objects in the chest cavity that did not belong to the already wrapped foetus between the legs.

X-rays of the remains revealed there was a surprising second foetus in the mummy.

“While examining the CT images, elements of what was believed to be the foetus were identified in the mother,” scientists wrote in the study, published last month in the International Journal of Osteroarcheology.

“The mother was carrying twins,” researchers concluded.

However, it is unclear whether the teenager or anyone else at the time of her death knew she was carrying twins.

The strange position of the second foetus near the woman’s chest cavity also remains a mystery, scientists say.

Researchers suspect the second foetus may have moved to this part of her body during the embalming process done during mummification.

“It is possible the unknown baby was mummified along with the other internal organs. During the mummification process, the diaphragm and connective tissues in that area would have dissolved, allowing for the unborn baby to move up into the chest cavity,” scientists wrote.

Transport of the mummy from Egypt to the US may have also moved the baby internally, they suspect.

Other than the likelihood that the teenager died during childbirth, scientists do not have more information on her health.

Since her head is missing, they say it is more difficult to learn about her health.

“Results note this mummy was pregnant with twins and in the middle of the birthing process at the time of her death,” researchers added.