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. These royal women were buried with weapons like bows, arrows, and daggers, but without a modern bioarchaeological assessment scientists couldn’t be sure if these were ceremonial or if the princesses could use them. 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. But they also found evidence of persistent infection and possible malnutrition, an indication that royal status couldn’t protect the princesses from everything.

For decades, scientists have 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 use them.

“Members of the royal family, especially the women, were active participants in skilled, physically demanding activities such as archery and hunting,” said Dr Zeinab Hashesh of Beni-Suef University, lead author of the article in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology. “This conclusion is supported by the way their bones developed to sustain heavy muscle use, which corresponds directly to the weapons discovered in their tombs.”