The wild facial expression of an Egyptian Mummy buried some 2,500 years ago had puzzled scientists for years, and now they appear to have found the reason. New research suggests that the woman who was mummified in ancient Egypt&nbsp;had died in extreme pain, which led her to scream so hard at the time of her demise that her face got locked in position.

Earlier it was thought that her facial expression got spoiled due to a badly done mummification. But new research by Cairo University radiologist Dr Sahar Saleem and Egyptian Antiquities Ministry anthropologist Samira El-Merghani posited that it's highly unlikely.

Based on their examinations, the researchers concluded that her body was embalmed using imported, embalmed material, meaning it was not a bad burial process that caused the deathly expression after all, according to the research published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine.

The findings were done based on new 'virtual dissections' through CT scans, scanning electron microscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction analysis.

“The mummy's screaming facial expression in this study could be read as a cadaveric spasm, implying that the woman died screaming from agony or pain,” Saleem said.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/perus-alien-mummies-under-fresh-scrutiny-743890">Watch |&nbsp;Peru's 'Alien Mummies' under fresh scrutiny</a>

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<h2>What is Cadaveric Spasm?</h2>

In case of violent or extremely painful deaths, muscles stiffen to a stage known as cadaveric spasm. It happens as a result of extreme pain, or intense emotions.

In her case, the woman was thought to have been suffering from ailments such as arthritis, and was in extreme agony during her death.

“The Screaming Woman is a true ‘time capsule’ of the way that she died and was mummified,” &nbsp;Saleem said in a release.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/scientists-recreate-3500-year-old-scent-of-ancient-egyptian-mummys-balms-631023">Also read |&nbsp;Scientists recreate 3,500-year-old scent of ancient Egyptian mummy's balms</a>

<h2>The story of Screaming Woman Mummy</h2>

The Mummy was first discovered in 1935 by an expedition team of the Metropolitan Museum of New York.

The woman is believed to have been a relative of Senmut, an architect who oversaw royal works in ancient Thebes. Senmut was the lover of Queen Hatschepsut of Thebes, who is believed to have lived between 1479 and 1458 BCE.

The mummies of Senmut, his mother, and other relatives were found in Deir Elbahari near Luxor, where ancient Thebes was located.&nbsp;

Until 1998, the Screaming Woman had been kept at Kasr Al Ainy School of Medicine in Cairo.

 
(With inputs from agencies)

 
&nbsp;

The wild facial expression of an Egyptian Mummy buried some 2,500 years ago had puzzled scientists for years, and now they appear to have found the reason. New research suggests that the woman who was mummified in ancient Egypt had died in extreme pain, which led her to scream so hard at the time of her demise that her face got locked in position.

The wild facial expression of an Egyptian Mummy buried some 2,500 years ago had puzzled scientists for years, and now they appear to have found the reason. New research suggests that the woman who was mummified in ancient Egypt had died in extreme pain, which led her to scream so hard at the time of her demise that her face got locked in position. Earlier it was thought that her facial expression got spoiled due to a badly done mummification. But new research by Cairo University radiologist Dr Sahar Saleem and Egyptian Antiquities Ministry anthropologist Samira El-Merghani posited that it's highly unlikely. Based on their examinations, the researchers concluded that her body was embalmed using imported, embalmed material, meaning it was not a bad burial process that caused the deathly expression after all, according to the research published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine. The findings were done based on new 'virtual dissections' through CT scans, scanning electron microscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction analysis. “The mummy's screaming facial expression in this study could be read as a cadaveric spasm, implying that the woman died screaming from agony or pain,” Saleem said. Watch | Peru's 'Alien Mummies' under fresh scrutiny × What is Cadaveric Spasm? In case of violent or extremely painful deaths, muscles stiffen to a stage known as cadaveric spasm. It happens as a result of extreme pain, or intense emotions. In her case, the woman was thought to have been suffering from ailments such as arthritis, and was in extreme agony during her death. “The Screaming Woman is a true ‘time capsule’ of the way that she died and was mummified,” Saleem said in a release. Also read | Scientists recreate 3,500-year-old scent of ancient Egyptian mummy's balms The story of Screaming Woman Mummy The Mummy was first discovered in 1935 by an expedition team of the Metropolitan Museum of New York. The woman is believed to have been a relative of Senmut, an architect who oversaw royal works in ancient Thebes. Senmut was the lover of Queen Hatschepsut of Thebes, who is believed to have lived between 1479 and 1458 BCE. The mummies of Senmut, his mother, and other relatives were found in Deir Elbahari near Luxor, where ancient Thebes was located. Until 1998, the Screaming Woman had been kept at Kasr Al Ainy School of Medicine in Cairo. (With inputs from agencies)

She screamed and screamed: Why was Egyptian Mummy's face so contorted? Scientists have a clue

A passenger plane-sized &quot;void&quot; has been discovered in the middle of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, where it has lain secret and untouched for 4,500 years, scientists revealed on Thursday.

The space is one of four cavities, along with the king and queen&#39;s chambers and &quot;Grand Gallery&quot;, now known to exist inside the giant monument constructed under pharaoh Khufu of ancient Egypt.

&quot;It is big,&quot; said co-discoverer Mehdi Tayoubi of the ScanPyramids project, which has been exploring Khufu&#39;s pyramid since October 2015 with non-invasive technology using subatomic particle scans.

&quot;It&#39;s the size of a 200-seater airplane, in the heart of the pyramid,&quot; Tayoubi told AFP of the discovery, published in science journal Nature.

Towering over the Giza complex on Cairo&#39;s outskirts alongside smaller pyramids for kings Menkaure and Khafre and the Great Sphinx, the Khufu&#39;s pyramid is the oldest and only surviving construction among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and one of the largest buildings ever erected on Earth.

The cavity is the first major structure found inside the Great Pyramid since the 19th century, the research team said.

&quot;There have been many theories about the existence of secret chambers inside the pyramid,&quot; said Tayoubi. &quot;But none have predicted anything this big.&quot;

The exact shape and size of the void are fuzzy -- its purpose and possible contents a mystery.

But it is thought to be at least 30 metres (98 feet) long, and located above the &quot;Grand Gallery&quot; -- a sloped corridor almost 50 m long and 9 m high which links Khufu&#39;s burial chamber at the pyramid&#39;s centre to a tunnel leading outside.

Untouched for 4,500 years&nbsp;

The monument&nbsp;139 metres high today, and 230 metres wide was erected as a tomb for Khufu, also known as Cheops. To this day, nobody knows quite how it was built.

The void said co-author Kunihiro Morishima from the Nagoya University in Japan, &quot;was not known by anyone until now, from when the pyramid was built 4,500 years ago&quot;.

&quot;The big void is completely closed,&quot; he added, which means anything inside it would not have been &quot;touched by anyone after the pyramid (was) built&quot;.

The pharaohs of ancient Egypt built these monumental tombs for themselves, complete with sarcophagus to hold their embalmed mummies, and stocked with everything they could require for the afterlife -- food, clothing, and jewellery.

Khufu&#39;s pyramid was plundered long before it was visited by modern archaeologists, and no relics remain from any of the known chambers.

For this reason, the new cavity may be &quot;very exciting,&quot; said Morishima, though it is not known if it contains anything at all.

The team used a technique called &quot;cosmic-ray muon radiography&quot;, which allowed them to visualise &quot;known and potentially unknown&quot; voids in the pyramid without having to touch a single stone.

Muons are charged, heavy particles formed from the interactions of cosmic rays with atoms in the upper atmosphere.

Similar to X-rays which can penetrate the human body and allow bone imaging, these particles can follow a mostly straight line through several hundreds of metres of stone before decaying or being absorbed, the team said.

By recording the position and direction of each muon as it travels through the pyramid, muon detectors can distinguish cavities from stone.

High confidence&nbsp;

&quot;We will continue to conduct muon imaging for revealing the detail&quot; of the void, said Morishima including its dimensions and inclination, and whether it consists of a single, large cavity or a complex of several.

&quot;Our muon imaging technology can&#39;t confirm (whether) there are some artifacts or not,&quot; he added. Anything inside would be &quot;too small for muon imaging.&quot;

The team is already turning its attention to new technology for the next step possibly a miniature robot that can travel through tiny holes to examine the inside of the void without disturbing anything.

The discovery, named simply &quot;Big Void&quot;, has been confirmed using three different muon technologies and three independent analyses, verifying its existence with &quot;high confidence,&quot; the authors said.

&quot;While there is currently no information about the role of this void, these findings show how modern particle physics can shed new light on the world&#39;s archaeological heritage,&quot; the authors wrote in Nature.

'It's the size of a 200-seater airplane, in the heart of the pyramid,' co-discoverer Mehdi Tayoubi said

A passenger plane-sized "void" has been discovered in the middle of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, where it has lain secret and untouched for 4,500 years, scientists revealed on Thursday. The space is one of four cavities, along with the king and queen's chambers and "Grand Gallery", now known to exist inside the giant monument constructed under pharaoh Khufu of ancient Egypt. "It is big," said co-discoverer Mehdi Tayoubi of the ScanPyramids project, which has been exploring Khufu's pyramid since October 2015 with non-invasive technology using subatomic particle scans. "It's the size of a 200-seater airplane, in the heart of the pyramid," Tayoubi told AFP of the discovery, published in science journal Nature. Towering over the Giza complex on Cairo's outskirts alongside smaller pyramids for kings Menkaure and Khafre and the Great Sphinx, the Khufu's pyramid is the oldest and only surviving construction among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and one of the largest buildings ever erected on Earth. The cavity is the first major structure found inside the Great Pyramid since the 19th century, the research team said. "There have been many theories about the existence of secret chambers inside the pyramid," said Tayoubi. "But none have predicted anything this big." The exact shape and size of the void are fuzzy -- its purpose and possible contents a mystery. But it is thought to be at least 30 metres (98 feet) long, and located above the "Grand Gallery" -- a sloped corridor almost 50 m long and 9 m high which links Khufu's burial chamber at the pyramid's centre to a tunnel leading outside. Untouched for 4,500 years The monument 139 metres high today, and 230 metres wide was erected as a tomb for Khufu, also known as Cheops. To this day, nobody knows quite how it was built. The void said co-author Kunihiro Morishima from the Nagoya University in Japan, "was not known by anyone until now, from when the pyramid was built 4,500 years ago". "The big void is completely closed," he added, which means anything inside it would not have been "touched by anyone after the pyramid (was) built". The pharaohs of ancient Egypt built these monumental tombs for themselves, complete with sarcophagus to hold their embalmed mummies, and stocked with everything they could require for the afterlife -- food, clothing, and jewellery. Khufu's pyramid was plundered long before it was visited by modern archaeologists, and no relics remain from any of the known chambers. For this reason, the new cavity may be "very exciting," said Morishima, though it is not known if it contains anything at all. The team used a technique called "cosmic-ray muon radiography", which allowed them to visualise "known and potentially unknown" voids in the pyramid without having to touch a single stone. Muons are charged, heavy particles formed from the interactions of cosmic rays with atoms in the upper atmosphere. Similar to X-rays which can penetrate the human body and allow bone imaging, these particles can follow a mostly straight line through several hundreds of metres of stone before decaying or being absorbed, the team said. By recording the position and direction of each muon as it travels through the pyramid, muon detectors can distinguish cavities from stone. High confidence "We will continue to conduct muon imaging for revealing the detail" of the void, said Morishima including its dimensions and inclination, and whether it consists of a single, large cavity or a complex of several. "Our muon imaging technology can't confirm (whether) there are some artifacts or not," he added. Anything inside would be "too small for muon imaging." The team is already turning its attention to new technology for the next step possibly a miniature robot that can travel through tiny holes to examine the inside of the void without disturbing anything. The discovery, named simply "Big Void", has been confirmed using three different muon technologies and three independent analyses, verifying its existence with "high confidence," the authors said. "While there is currently no information about the role of this void, these findings show how modern particle physics can shed new light on the world's archaeological heritage," the authors wrote in Nature.

Plane-sized 'void' found in Great Pyramid: Scientists

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She screamed and screamed: Why was Egyptian Mummy's face so contorted? Scientists have a clue

Plane-sized 'void' found in Great Pyramid: Scientists