Skeleton of pregnant woman found in Egypt

Archaeologists have found the remains of a woman who died towards the end of her pregnancy some 3500 years ago. The woman’s pelvis was fractured, and improper treatment likely killed her. Thought to be around 25 years old, the position of the fetus in her body suggested she had been due to give birth relatively soon. Researchers found beads made from the shells of ostrich eggs, as well as pottery and jars. The find was in Kom Ombo, which lies about 30 miles north of the southern city of Aswan. Pottery in the tomb resembled pots from Nubia.

In 2005, Russian scientists unveiled the bones of a woman who died in childbirth 7,700 years ago. The grave was first discovered in 1997 in a Stone Age cemetery in Irkutsk. Foetal bones revealed that the woman, who was between 20 and 25 years old, died while giving birth to twins - the earliest known evidence of twins in the archaeological record. Researchers believe that one of the twins may have been in the breech position and was only partially delivered. The second twin appears to have got trapped behind the first and died in the womb.

Duplicate foetal bones