In 1999, in Heilongjiang Province, China, the body of a woman with dark objects tied to her feet was exhumed. Experts reveal her tragic story: Was she buried alive?
Meng's mummy
For more than two centuries, a woman's body has retained skin, muscles and joints almost entirely. She was lying in a coffin, with a distorted posture and a wide open mouth. Although now a mummy, her expression of intense pain is palpable.
The 164 cm tall mummy had a completely coal-black body and the placenta had not been removed before her death.
The placenta was attached to her buttocks.
On closer inspection, the left arm and leg are deformed.
According to the archaeological team, judging by facial and skeletal features, the woman is about 25 years old.
According to Chinese tradition, the limbs of the dead must be straightened before burial.
The mystery of her death: chronic poisoning or complications during childbirth?
Xin Jian recalls that when they found the female mummy, her skin was still yellowish in color, her hair and eyebrows were clearly visible, and her facial freckles were prominent.
Experts found only one tooth in the mummy's open mouth, although it is not unusual for a woman between 25 and 30 years old to have only one tooth.
After examining her, Dr. Liu, an anatomist at Kikihar Medical College, suggested that chronic poisoning from consumption of tonics and herbal products caused the tooth loss. As for the placenta, he concluded that Meng's "narrow birth canal" led to a difficult delivery that left her with broken bones and scrapes on her arms and legs. The unsteadiness of the child, coupled with challenging labor, led to fainting and death from physical exertion.
Due to the limited medical care available at the time, Menge's family mistook the fainting for real death, leading to preparations for a post-mortem, which led to the woman's actual and permanent death.
The underlying part is uncertain.
After the burial, the woman slowly wakes up in her coffin, which is too narrow for her to sit up or open. Is she buried where the photo shows?
She begins to scream for help, and in her fierce struggle she breaks her fingers and removes the placenta. She struggles, cries out desperately, but the coffin silences her cries. A ring of cloth hangs inside the coffin, tearing as she struggles. Tired of screaming, she finally succumbs to pain and suffocation.
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