Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 April 2012
The body of a prematurely-born child, probably female.
The length from the vertex of the head to the heels is 25.75 cm.
The body had been carefully wrapped in linen, but this had been removed by Howard Carter. There is no abdominal incision and no indication as to how the body was preserved.
The skin is of a greyish colour, very shrunken and brittle, and the clavicles, ribs and costal cartilages are all plainly seen through it. On the limbs it has become pressed into folds owing to the loss by desiccation of the natural fullness produced by the underlying tissues, and here also the bones of the hands are clearly defined.
The limbs are fully extended, and the hands are resting on the front of the thighs.
There is no sign of either eyebrows or eyelashes. The eyelids are nearly closed and the small aperture between the lids which now exists is almost certainly a secondary result due to retraction of the lids owing to shrinkage of the parts in drying.
On the head are visible many fine whitish hairs of a silky appearance, probably the remains of lanugo.
A portion of the umbilical cord is present and measures 21 mm. in length. The umbilicus is still at a low level.
Allowing for the general shrinkage of the body, it is estimated from the length of the foetus, the absence of eyebrows and eyelashes and the state of the eyelids, that the intra-uterine age of the child when born could not have exceeded five months.
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