Ancient Princesses Were Weapon-Wielding Badasses, Scientists Discover
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The Abstract<br>Ancient Princesses Were Weapon-Wielding Badasses, Scientists Discover
Becky Ferreira
Jul 18, 2026<br>at 6:00 AM
The mummified remains of 4,000-year-old Egyptian royals suggest that they were buried with weapons because they could use them, not for symbolic reasons.
Welcome back to the Abstract! Here are the studies this week that loosed arrows, made sacrifices, prepared for battle, and took the hit.<br>First, a bunch of ancient princesses were buried with weapons. Did they know how to use them? You bet! Then: a deadly Inca ritual, animal war games, and the mystery of the dinosaur-killer.<br>As always, for more of my work, check out my book First Contact: The Story of Our Obsession with Aliens, or subscribe to my personal newsletter the BeX Files.<br>Disney princesses…OF DEATH<br>Hashesh, Zeinab et al. “Bioarcheological Reassessment of Dahshur Royal Skeletal Remains from the late middle kingdom (c. 1850 to 1700 BCE).” Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.<br>Egyptian princesses who lived nearly 4,000 years ago were skilled archers and likely handled other deadly weapons, including maces and daggers, according to a new study that revisits their mummified bones and upends expectations about gender in the ancient world.<br>For more than a century, archaeologists have puzzled over the remains of ancient royals entombed in the Amenemhat II pyramid complex located in Egypt’s Dahshur necropolis.<br>Four of these mummified bodies have been identified as the daughters of the pharaoh Amenemhat II, known as Princess Ita, Princess Khenmet, Princess Itaweret, and Princess Sathathormeryt.<br>These women were buried with weapons, including bows and maces, which are grave goods normally found in male burials; Princess Ita’s tomb also contained a stunning dagger. Another pair of royals, Princess Noub-Hotep and her father King Hor, are buried in the same complex with weapons in their graves, and were also part of the study.<br>The presence of weaponry in the graves has led to a debate over whether the items were selected for symbolic purposes, or if the women used them in life. To resolve this question, researchers conducted a thorough re-examination of the mummified remains using osteological analysis, X-ray imaging, and advanced spectroscopy.<br>The results revealed that all of these individuals showed signs of bodily strain associated with repeated use of bows and melee arms, suggesting that not only King Hor, but the five princesses, knew their way around a weapon.<br>Pronounced muscle attachments across the mummified upper limbs “indicates repetitive, high-intensity actions consistent with archery and weapon use,” said researchers led by Zeineb Hashesh of the University of Beni-Suef.<br>“This evidence directly informs long-standing debates about the function of weapons in female burials,” the team continued. “Rather than purely symbolic objects, these items appear to have been actively used, as reflected in skeletal adaptations such as asymmetry, muscle hypertrophy, and metacarpal modification. Princess Noub-Hotep provides a particularly clear example, where skeletal changes align with the presence of arrows in her burial.”<br>In other words, these women don’t appear to have been the damsels in distress depicted in traditional princess stories. The mummification of their bare arms hints that they did, in fact, bear arms.<br>In other news…<br>The last days of the sacrificial children<br>Silva-Pinto, Verónica et al. “Pilgrimage to sacrifice: Mechanisms, causes, and time of death of the Western Andean Capacocha of the Southern Tawantinsuyu.” Science Advances.<br>We’re not wrapped up with the mummy beat just yet. In another new study, scientists took a fresh look at the mummified bodies of three young victims of human sacrifice in the Inca empire, who were ritually killed as part of a ceremony called the Capacocha in the 15th century.<br>“Selected for their perceived purity and exceptional beauty, the individuals chosen for sacrifice were either taken from their home communities or offered by local authorities” and “undertook a long, final journey to sacred mountain summits, where they were ritually killed,” said researchers led by Verónica Silva Pinto of the University of València.<br>The Boy of Cerro El Plomo. Image: Silva-Pinto, Verónica et alThe results revealed that the Boy of Cerro El Plomo, a child of about 8-years-old discovered at an elevation of nearly 18,000 feet, was likely killed by blunt force trauma to the head, and not by hypothermia or strangulation as previously proposed. Using advanced imaging, researchers discovered a cranial lesion that may have been inflicted by “a blunt-lobed lithic star-shaped mace,” according to the...