US, WASHINGTON (ORDO NEWS) — For a long time, experts were confident that the small sarcophagus, whose age is approximately 2100 years, can contain exclusively the remains of birds. That is why it was small and decorated with images of a hawk.
But in 2018, computed tomography was performed, which determined that the remains of a human child born no later than 28 weeks of pregnancy are inside. The sarcophagus was in storage at the Maidstone Museum in England.
It is worth noting that the funeral sash had such dimensions, supposedly intended for a bird. On the sarcophagus itself, the head of a hawk and various hieroglyphs are depicted, which relate to the god of heaven among the ancient Egyptians – Horus. Moreover, in ancient Egypt, the mummification of various animals was very common. So, the mummy at first glance was not something special.
Specialists were able to determine that the bones belong to a male child who was at the time of death between 22 and 28 weeks of pregnancy. The fetus had very serious abnormalities of the spine and a birth defect, due to which the brain and skull cannot develop normally. Using the highest resolution, scientists found that the upper part of the skull of the mummy was not completely formed, the arches of the vertebrae were not closed, and the ears were located in the occipital part of the head.
During the scan, it was noted that the bones of the arms and legs formed correctly. But due to the fact that the skull was too much deformed, the fetus had practically no brain. In addition, the child had a cleft lip and a cleft palate.
Due to the fact that the remains were mummified, it can be concluded that the family considered the child special. But at the same time, specialists had many other questions. For example, why the sarcophagus of the mummy was decorated with a drawing of birds.
If we could find the rest of the objects that were buried with the mummy, then we could get answers to questions, but experts could not find their location.
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