Warsaw (AFP)

Polish scientists said Thursday they discovered a pregnant Egyptian mummy, the first of its kind in the world, while performing x-rays on the 2,000-year-old remains in the National Museum in Warsaw.

"My husband Stanislaw, Egyptologist, and I, examining X-ray images, noticed in the womb of the deceased woman a familiar frame for the parents of three children - a little foot!", Marzena Ozarek told reporters. Szilke, anthropologist and archaeologist at the University of Warsaw.

Further analysis revealed the presence of an entire fetus.

According to scientists working on a project around the Warsaw mummy, the woman was between 20 and 30 years old and was 26 to 30 weeks pregnant at the time of her death.

"We do not know why the fetus was not taken out of the womb of the deceased during the mummification", admitted Mr. Wojciech Ejsmond of the Polish Academy of Sciences, who participates in the same project.

"This mummy is really unique. We have not been able to find similar cases. This means that + our + mummy is the only one recognized in the world with a fetus," he said.

Ms Ozarek-Szilke speculated that there may have been an effort to "cover up the pregnancy ... or, perhaps, it had some significance related to beliefs and rebirth in the au -of the".

Based on an analysis of the hieroglyphics on the sarcophagus, the mummy was initially considered to be that of a priest who lived between the first century BC and the first century AD.

Scientists now believe it could be even older and are trying to find out the possible causes of death.

The mummy was not opened but an X-ray showed the woman had long, curly hair reaching down to her shoulders.

The discovery was announced in the latest issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science, a peer-reviewed journal.

"This is the first known case of an embalmed body of a pregnant woman ... It opens up new possibilities for research on pregnancy in ancient times and practices related to motherhood," the article says.

The mummy was brought to Poland in the 19th century and is part of the collection of antiques at the University of Warsaw.

It has been kept at the National Museum since 1917, and exhibited with the sarcophagus.

© 2021 AFP