Mummy of Neskhon

At the time of her unwrapping, the mummy of Neskhon [ns-ḫns(w)] (also rendered Neskhons or Nesykhonsu), struck early observers as unusually lifelike. The softness of her features, the fullness of her body, and her well-endowed bust led archaeologists to suggest that she had either borne children or was pregnant at the time of her death. This impression has endured, and to this day many scholars consider it likely that Neskhon died during pregnancy or childbirth, a tragically common fate for women in Ancient Egypt, even among the elite.

Neskhon, whose name means “She who belongs to Khonsu,” the lunar god of the Theban triad, lived during the late 21st Dynasty, dying around 969 B.C. She was a woman of high status, bearing the titles “Lady of the House” and “Singer of the Choir of Mut the Great.”

Far from implying seclusion or celibacy, such a role placed her at the heart of temple life. Singers of Mut were ritually trained women who participated in sacred music, chant, and festival performance, while also leading ordinary domestic lives. Marriage and motherhood were not only permitted, but expected.

Neskhon was married to Pinedjem II, High Priest of Amun at Thebes; one of the most powerful figures in Egypt at the time. Her burial reflects both her elite status and the turbulent age in which she lived. Her mummy was discovered in the Deir el-Bahari cache (Tomb DB320), a tomb associated with the High Priests of Amun, where members of the royal and priestly families (including Neskhons) were interred and later safeguarded during the Third Intermediate Period against tomb robbing.

She was mummified with great care and covered with an Osirian shroud, aligning her with the god of resurrection and rebirth. A number of her funerary objects survive, including canopic equipment, though much was plundered in antiquity. Notably, her heart scarab (later stolen by the Abd el-Rassul family of Qurna) was eventually recovered and now resides in the British Museum (EA25584).

Related: Mummy of Lady Rai

One object buried with Neskhon, however, remains particularly striking: an oracular decree, addressed to the god Amun, beseeching him not to allow Neskhon’s spirit to bring harm upon her widowed husband. Such a text is highly unusual. Whether it reflects anxiety over an untimely death, fears surrounding childbirth, or the perceived power of an unsettled spirit, we cannot say. Yet it has haunted the imagination of Egyptologists for more than a century.

In death, as in life, Neskhon resists abstraction. Her body, her expression, and the careful concern shown for her afterlife suggest a woman deeply loved and keenly missed; a temple singer, a wife, and perhaps a mother whose life ended too soon, but whose presence remains quietly, profoundly human.