In the south of Egypt lies on the eastern bank of the Nile, the site Kom Ombo. The place not far from Aswan is actually known for its finds from the time of the Ptolemies - that Macedonian-Greek dynasty, which after the conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 BC in Egypt had the say.

However, the region also offers much older sites: Researchers at Yale University and the University of Bologna have been looking for traces there that provide information about the coexistence of the ancient Egyptians and their southern neighbors, the Nubians. For the pharaohs, the region south of the empire was important for the supply of gold or ivory.

The archaeologists now made a remarkable find. In a small cemetery, which was once used by nomads, they found the stool of a woman. The dead woman was wrapped in leather fragments with her arms and legs bent. It was buried together with two simple ceramic pots, one of them in typical Nubian style.

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According to the Egyptian Antiquities Administration, the woman was about 25 years old. And apparently she was in labor when she died. Because in the pelvic area of ​​the dead researchers found another skeleton - it belongs to the unborn baby of the woman. The child has already turned his head down in the mother's stomach and could have already slipped into the birth canal. The find suggests that the woman may have died at birth, the researchers write.

In addition, the archaeologists discovered further evidence for this assumption: For a first analysis of the skeleton revealed a malposition of the pelvis in the expectant mother. Most likely, the defect is the result of a fracture that was not healed properly during life. It is possible that this anomaly could have led to death during birth, reports the Egyptian newspaper "Al Ahram". At least his complications were to be feared. However, further investigations would still have to substantiate this thesis.

But the archaeologists can not fully explain the case. About the cause of death of mother and child, the experts can make after a long time, no further details. The two probably died about 3700 years ago, revealed dates.

There were other grave goods in the grave. The archaeologists discovered parts of ostrich egg shells. They were as processed as was typical for the production of pearls. Maybe the woman was a pearlmaker, who gave her relatives their tools on the way to the afterlife.

Such finds as the one in Kom Ombo are very rare in archeology, although the birth mortality rate may have been high at that time. Only a few cases are known in which traces of a pregnant woman and her fetus could be detected. Such a find researchers made in ancient Pompeii. There, the remains of a young, highly pregnant woman were found in the villa of Polybius. She died at the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.