Egypt’s mysterious pregnant mummy most likely died of cancer, scientists say

The Polish team of scientists investigating the first known mummy of a pregnant woman from ancient Egypt announced that, following the latest analysis of her skull, they discovered that the embalmed woman most probably died of cancer. The team, which is part of the Warsaw Mummy Project, hopes that, if confirmed, their discovery will help to better understand this disease and its evolution over the last millennia.

In the results of their latest study, the Polish team detailed that the pregnant mummy was X-rayed and CT scanned during a radiological examination of a number of Egyptian mummies. The analysis of the data obtained in this process then revealed anomalies in her craniofacial bones, similar to those caused by a nasopharyngeal cancer, which originates in the area of the nose and the throat. Further CT images of the bone behind her left eye orbit also revealed features that may be identified as the presence of a small tumor, which the group of scientists have identified as a possible metastatic site.

“I was preparing her for a 3D printing. In order to do this, the object must be closed and I had to fill the parts that are open in a normal human skull,” Stanisław Szilke, member of the team who first noted the anomalies, told Al-Monitor. “When I was filling the gaps, I noticed that there were some spaces that should be closed in a normal skull but were missing here. And I asked the team to look for other anomalies."

The pregnant mummy, also known as the "mysterious lady" because of the enigmas that have surrounded its history, dates from the first century B.C. It is believed to belong to a woman of the elite of Thebes in southern Egypt, although it is still not known who she was. In fact, the little that is known with certainty is that the mummy and its coffin were bought in Egypt by the Polish architect Jan Wezyk-Rudzki and donated to the University of Warsaw in 1826. But the story beyond this date remains shrouded in mystery.