Mummies Prove Ancient Egyptian Princesses Were Real Weapon-Wielding Warriors

Weapons Were No Mere Decoration

The lives of ancient Egyptian princesses are often imagined as luxurious and sheltered, surrounded by servants in sprawling palaces. A new look at their burial chambers, however, reveals they also took part in skilled physical activity and knew their way around weapons. A study published this week in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology has finally answered one of Egyptology's longest-running debates — and the answer is striking.

For decades, scientists disputed the meaning of the weapons found in the burial chambers of some ancient Egyptian princesses — were they symbolic or practical tools? Now, a reassessment of five royal women's mummies from the Middle Kingdom has shown that some princesses buried with weapons could actually use them. They were buried with items like bows and arrows, which are traditionally associated with men; Princess Ita's coffin contained a particularly beautiful dagger.

Lost Mummies, Rediscovered Secrets

At the apex of the 1890s Egyptomania craze, French archaeologist Jacques de Morgan discovered the 4,000-year-old bodies within the Dahshur pyramid complex. The 2020 rediscovery of six mummies, previously thought lost, allowed scientists to re-evaluate the remains of five princesses — four sisters, Khenmet, Itaweret, Ita, and Sathathormeryt, and Princess Noub-Hotep — and King Hor.

Four of the six were sisters, daughters of the pharaoh Amenemhat II, buried in matching underground chambers: Princess Ita next to Princess Khenmet, and Princess Itaweret alongside an anonymous woman provisionally identified as Princess Sathathormeryt. The mummies bear remarkable traces of their original discovery — 19th-century handwriting is still visible on the bones and the papers they were wrapped with.

What the Bones Reveal

Researchers identified pronounced muscle attachments on the princesses' bones, consistent with training and developing the muscles for archery, as well as signs of well-cared-for physical trauma. Each princess tells her own story. In Princess Ita's case, her muscle attachments "strongly reflect the habitual gripping of weapons like daggers or maces." Even more telling was Princess Noub-Hotep, whose skeleton "provides the most definitive evidence for the 'archer's grip,'" including a unique bowing of a hand bone seen as evidence of drawing a bow.

Princess Itaweret, a young woman aged 20–34 at death, survived broken ribs and foot fractures, and her skeleton shows she was a skilled archer. The robust muscle attachments on the sisters' bones indicate that they were highly physically active in ways that align with the use of the weapons in their burials. According to lead researcher Dr. Zeinab Hashesh, "These injuries were most likely caused by accidents, falls, hard blows, or other impacts linked to an active lifestyle, whether through hunting, military training, or other demanding activities."

The researchers also found evidence of persistent infection and possible malnutrition — an indication that royal status couldn't protect the princesses from everything. These women were physically formidable, but they were human.

A More Complex Picture of Royal Egypt

Not everyone is fully convinced. Sébastien Villotte, a researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research, called the study "interesting" but argued that the key finding — that these individuals were involved with martial or archery-related activities — "remains speculative." Future work might compare these princesses' remains with those of non-elites who lived in the same region and period to confirm that the skeletal features were unique to them.

The study does not suggest that all elite Egyptian women were warriors, nor can it prove exactly how each princess used the weapons buried beside her. The loss of the skulls also limits what researchers can learn, and future stable isotope analyses may provide additional clues about their diets, health, and upbringing. Even so, the evidence indicates that at least some Middle Kingdom royal women were not defined solely by ceremonial or domestic roles — their skeletons point to lives that involved physical training, outdoor activity, and perhaps participation in pursuits long assumed to belong primarily to men.

The researchers hope future studies will reconstruct more complete biographies of the Dahshur royals, combining skeletal evidence with artifacts, historical records, and new analytical techniques. If DNA can eventually be extracted from the remains, it could shed even more light on the family ties — and the fierce lives — of these extraordinary women.