The Mummy of Thuya · UniteThe99

The Mummy of Thuya

The mummy of Thuya, grandmother of Akhenaten and mother of Queen Tiye ▫ The well-preserved mummy of Thuya shows a woman of around 50–60 years of age. She measures at 145cm tall (4ft 9.1). Thuya’s body was discovered laying serenely within her coffin, with a large linen shroud knotted at the back and secured by four bandages, leaving her feet and face exposed. Douglas Derry, accompanying anatomist Grafton Elliot Smith whilst examining the body of Thuya, discovered she was wearing gold foil sandals upon her feet. Thuya’s arms lay alongside her body with her hands flat. Her ears are double pierced. Her mummy has the inventory number CG 51191. The damage to Thuya’s teeth and scoliosis, would fit with the estimated age range of her body at death. However, the C.T. scans did not reveal a possible cause of death for Thuya. Thuya’s heart remains within her chest cavity, and no other organs remain within her torso whatsoever. This was based upon Egyptian spriitual belief, that the soul resides in the heart, thus the heart had to remain within the mummy of the deceased to be judged. If, for any reason, the heart was damaged, other organs could remain in its place. Thuya’s legs remain in place and are in great condition despite postmortem fractures on the left forefoot with missing distal parts of the toes. The golden sheet sandals remain upon her mummified feet. Both of Thuya’s eyes are packed with linen, presenting a “life-like” gaze to Thuya’s face. There is seemingly pigment upon the linen balls to give an appearance of an iris also. Also noticeable is a crooked nose bridge, which could have been due to decomposition (nose collapse), embalmers stuffing the nasal passages or possibly just the shape of a broken “Roman nose” that Thuya had in life. It should be noted that the “hooked” aquiline nose was quite prominent among Egyptian mummies. Read more: https://egypt-museum.com/the-mummy-of-thuya/

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