Ancient Egyptians drew the Milky Way on coffins and tombs, linking them to sky goddess, study finds

Starry paintings found on ancient Egyptian coffins and tombs indicate that the sky goddess Nut was closely associated with the Milky Way galaxy, according to a new study by an astronomer.

While Egyptologists have long believed Nut was connected with the Milky Way, this new study helps support the idea.

Or Graur, an associate professor of astrophysics at the University of Portsmouth in the U.K., examined 125 depictions of the goddess Nut (pronounced "Noot") on coffins and tomb walls that are up to 5,000 years old. A few of these paintings were unusual in their detail, Graur reported in a study published April 30 in the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage.

In many depictions of Nut, the goddess is shown naked and arched over the sky, sometimes with stars and solar disks over her body. This posture shows her connection with the sky and her protection of Earth below, according to a statement from the University of Portsmouth. But the unusual paintings showed another aspect of her identity.

For instance, on the outermost coffin of a chantress (a person who performs religious prayers) named Nesitaudjatakhet, there is a depiction of Nut lying down. Her body is covered in stars, and there is "a thick, undulating black curve that bisects Nut's star-studded body and recalls the Great Rift that cleaves the Milky Way in two," Graur wrote in the study.

"I think that the undulating curve represents the Milky Way and could be a representation of the Great Rift — the dark band of dust that cuts through the Milky Way's bright band of diffused light," Graur said in the statement.

Related: 'Everything we found shattered our expectations': Archaeologists discover 1st astronomical observatory from ancient Egypt

Graur noted that similar undulating waves appear along with images of Nut in the decorations of four tombs in the Valley of the Kings. For instance, the ceiling of Ramesses VI (who ruled circa 1143 to 1136 B.C.) has two back-to-back images of Nut that are "separated by thick, golden undulating curves that issue from the base of Nut's head and travel above her back all the way to her rear," Graur said.

The fact that some paintings depict Nut with these undulating waves suggests a close association with the Milky Way, Graur said. The ancient Egyptians may have believed that this association helped her protect the Earth, Graur wrote. Geb, an Egyptian god who represents the Earth, is sometimes seen underneath the arched Nut, he wrote in the study.

Nut was also associated with all other aspects of the day and night sky. "We should not think of the Milky Way as a representation of Nut," Graur wrote in the study. "Instead, we should think of the Milky Way as one more astronomical phenomenon that, like the stars and the Sun, are part of the sky and hence a part of Nut."

The finding is not new to Egyptologists, but it's important to have the same interpretation from an astronomer's point of view, said Rogério Sousa, a professor of Egyptology and ancient history at the University of Lisbon in Portugal.

"I can say that I agree with the identification between Nut and the Milky Way proposed by Or, which has always been implied by Egyptologists," Sousa told Live Science in an email. "But Or being an astronomer [gives it an] astronomical input."

Ancient Egypt quiz: Test your smarts about pyramids, hieroglyphs and King Tut