A new study explains how the famous mummy Takabuti was killed over 2,600 years ago – by an axe. Professor Rosalie David from The University of Manchester and Professor Eileen Murphy Queen’s University Belfast researched the mysterious death of Takabuti suggesting she was stabbed with an axe rather than a knife as previously claimed.
The team’s latest research suggests she was stabbed from behind as she was running away from her killer, who could have been an Assyrian soldier or Egyptian army, so she might have been betrayed by one of her own people.
The research published in a new book called The Life and Times of Takabuti in ancient Egypt: investigating the Belfast mummy, suggests the death was probably instant. After studying the position and depth of the wound, it also proposes the assailant was holding the axe with his/her arms bent to hit with maximum force and thrust into her ribs causing fatal injuries.
The weapon is believed to be a blade with a semi-circular sharp edge at least 7-7.5 cm in length, corresponding to the injuries she sustained.
A range of techniques like X-rays, CT scans, DNA analysis, radiocarbon dating, proteomics and analyses of hair and mummification packing materials were used on tiny fragments of material enabling the team to learn about Takabuti’s life and times.
A CT scan of her body revealed Takabuti died in her late 20s or early 30s and Proteomics explored her health and found no evidence of ongoing illness.
Takabuti’s title, written on her coffin, suggests she was married and supervised a substantial household- probably at Thebes- where Luxor is today. She is believed to be a high-profile woman,
In 1834, she was brought to Ireland where she was unwrapped for the first time the next year.
Daily Mailquotes Professor Rosalie as saying that it is “comforting to know that her death-though violent, was quick and she probably didn’t suffer long.” She suggests Takabuti was “much loved by her family” as her body was tended to with great care after her death, her hair “was neatly cut and carefully curled and styled.”
Professor Eileen Murphy said the book is the result of several years of painstaking work which gives a context of the times in which Tabakuti lived.