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In the 1890s, at the height of Egyptomania, six ancient mummies were found buried with a slew of weapons at Dahshur, an Egyptian funerary complex made up of pyramids and shaft tombs. Around 20 years later, the bodies were delivered to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, left in a box, and forgotten for the next hundred-plus years.
The bodies were rediscovered at the museum in 2020, and, since then, researchers have concluded that the weapons laid beside the six bodies — identified as four princess sisters, along with another princess known as Noub-Hotep, and King Hor — were not simply ceremonial. Both these weapons and the bones of the princesses showed wear and tear suggesting that these royal women were actually skilled hunters and archers.
The Four Ancient Egyptian Princesses Found Buried With Their Deadly Weapons
The four rediscovered sisters were daughters of Pharaoh Amenemhat II: Princess Ita, Princess Khenmet, Princess Itaweret, and an anonymous woman cautiously identified as the fourth daughter, Princess Sathathormeryt. The remains generally date back about 3,700 years.
The princesses were found buried along with a large arsenal of weapons, namely bows and daggers — grave goods that were traditionally associated with ancient Egyptian men. Meanwhile, Princess Noub-Hotep and King Hor were also buried with similar objects.
Since the first discovery of the mummies in the 1890s, these weapons were considered by archaeologists as “purely symbolic or ‘votive’ tokens for the afterlife,” Dr. Zeinab Hashesh of Beni-Suef University, lead author of the recent study, told ScienceAlert.
But in the study, published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, researchers were able to debunk this previously-held belief about the weapons by analyzing the bones of the mummies.
Princess Ita was found to have been between 28 and 34 years old when she died, with “strong upper-body muscle attachments,” which suggested to researchers that she was skilled in using maces or daggers. Princess Khenmet was in her late 30s or 40s with “very robust ligament attachments.”
Researchers found that Princess Itaweret, aged between 20 and 34, suffered broken ribs and foot fractures, and that her skeleton revealed she was a skilled archer.
In particular, the researchers explained that the “pronounced development in the upper limbs” of the mummies is associated with repetitive, high-intensity motions, like pulling a bowstring.
Furthermore, the researchers argued that the injuries sustained by Princess Itaweret were likely caused by falls or other impacts associated with an active lifestyle of hunting or military training.
“This directly explains the presence of bows, arrows, and maces in the women’s tombs; these were not just symbolic gifts but tools they actively used,” Hashesh said in a statement.
What This Study Reveals About Life For Royal Women In Ancient Egypt
Though these mummies languished in obscurity for more than a century, the researchers believe their study is shedding important light on the lives of these individuals buried some 3,700 years ago.
Elite families were typically thought to have led sedentary lifestyles, but that was not the case for these royal women. The physical training that the princesses underwent might have been linked to ancient Egyptian beliefs about spirituality and the afterlife — that with the right training, it might be possible for the body to survive after death.
“In the elite sphere of Dahshur, these princesses were viewed as active ritual agents. They were not imitating men; rather, their royal blood and their role in the ‘machine for surviving death’ required them to be disciplined, powerful actors capable of wielding skilled force,” Hashesh told ScienceAlert.
In 1906, the skulls of the bodies were sent to the Cairo School of Medicine for examination and were never returned. Hashesh noted that the loss of the skulls limited the researchers’ analysis to muscle attachments and skeletal injuries. However, she stated that their end goal is to “tell their full life stories, their families, health, and even their political roles.”
“Finding and analyzing these skeletons after they had spent 130 years in a box was a profoundly moving experience,” Hashesh said. “There was a mix of scientific excitement and a sense of historical justice in proving that these women were more than just the silent, decorative figures they had been assumed to be.”
After reading about these ancient Egyptian princesses, discover the story of Sekhmet, the bloodthirsty ancient Egyptian goddess of war. Then, learn about the 5,600-year-old mummy that proved that Egyptians had been using embalming practices for 1,500 years longer than scientists believed.
