| Djedmaatesankh Human Mummy | |
| |
| Biographical Information | |
|---|---|
| Name(s) | Djedmaatesankh |
| Age | about 30-35 |
| Sex | female |
| Status | an ordinary middle-class woman and musician |
| Height | unknown |
| Source | |
| Culture | Egyptian |
| Date(s) | died in the middle of the 9th century B.C. The coffin was collected in the early 20th century. |
| Site | the city then known as Waset, (known to the Greeks as Thebes, now natively known as Luxor) |
| Current Location | |
| Location | Royal Ontario Museum |
| Catalog # | |
Djedmaatesankh was an Egyptian woman who died in the middle of the 9th century B.C. She was a middle-class woman and musician. Her cartonnage coffin is thought to have been buried on the west bank of the Nile about 2,850 years ago. The coffin was collected and brought to the ROM by Dr. Charles Trick Currelly, in the early 20th century. The cartonnage of Djedmaatesankh is one of the best preserved of its period.
Mummification
Her cartonnage lists her husband's name as Pa-ankh-entef, which translates to "Life belongs to him (or his). In 2009, studies were conducted at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. It presented evidence to support a theory that Paankhemamun, a mummy on display in the Art Institute of Chicago, is the husband of Djedmaatesankh. The scientists cited that the iconography on the two coffins are very similar and that Pa-ankh-entef would be an acceptable short form of Pa-ankh-en-amun. It was noted that scans that she performed showed that there were "peculiarities in the mummification process that the mummies also shared."
Studies
The scan performed also revealed that it is unlikely that Djedmaatesankh had any children as her pubic bone was perfectly intact. Dr. Peter Lewin, a researcher in the field of paleo-pathology, led the team and notes that it is possible that Djedmaatesankh was infertile. He suggests that as a married woman of her age (scans show bone fusion and wear on her teeth indicate her age as 30-35) it was customary for most Egyptian women to have already had several children.
Pathology
CT-scans performed on the body of Djedmaatesankh (in 1978 and 1994) have shown that she likely died of a dental abscess, which upon erupting, may have led to a fatal blood infection. The results of the scan as show a swelling of her left upper jaw, and a 3-D image inside her skull revealed a dental abscess, approximately one inch in diameter, which was caused by a diseased upper left incisor. It is likely that the abscess was there for several weeks prior to erupting and that the infection had spread to her upper left jaw bone, as the scan indicated that the bone was pitted with small holes. Additionally, high-resolution scans show tracks on the jawbone that are believed to be a result of unsuccessful attempts to drain the abscess.
Djedmaatesankh. (2013, October 4). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 19:07, June 3, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Djedmaatesankh&oldid=575776104
External Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djedmaatesankh http://www.aviewoncities.com/toronto/royalontariomuseum.htm