NYT "Tooth May Have Solved Mummy Mystery" (Hatshepsut)

[bklyncowgirl]

Source: NYT

A single tooth and some DNA clues appear to have solved the mystery of the lost mummy of Hatshepsut, one of the great queens of ancient Egypt, who reigned in the 15th century B.C.

Archaeologists who conducted the research, to be announced formally today in Cairo, said this was the first mummy of an Egyptian ruler to be found and “positively identified” since King Tutankhamen’s tomb was opened in 1922.

Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Cairo, said Monday in a telephone interview that the mummy was found in 1903 in an obscure, undecorated tomb in the Valley of the Kings, across the Nile from modern Luxor, and had been largely overlooked for more than a century.

Dr. Hawass said the identification of the well-preserved mummy as Hatshepsut (pronounced hat-SHEP-soot) was made a few weeks ago when a CT scan of a wooden box associated with the queen revealed a tooth. The tooth, he said, “fits exactly” into the jaw socket and broken root of the mummy of an obese woman originally found in Tomb 60 at the Valley of the Kings, the necropolis for royalty in the New Kingdom before and after Hatshepsut’s reign.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/world/middleeast/27mummy.html

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This is exciting news for Egypt buffs like me. There has been speculation about this mummy ever since the tomb with was originally found by Howard Carter of King Tut fame, was rediscovered in the 1990s and the body was observed have been posed with one arm bent--a pose now believed to have been used for ruling queens. The excavator, Donald Ryan, speculated that this could be Hatshepsut but was not able to establish proof. Apparently the Discovery Channel paid for the DNA testing and CAT scans.

Hatshepsut has been called the first great woman in history. She ruled Egypt for over 20 years first as regent for her young stepson, Thutmose III then as king in her own right as coregent. During her reign Egypt was peaceful and prosperous. She expanded trade and built throughout Egypt. Her unique mortuary at Deir el Bahri is one of the worlds great architectural masterpieces.

Her body, unlike most of the 18th dynasty ruler has never been discovered. It was thought that perhaps a vengeful Thutmose III killed her and did away with the body. In the last few years of his reign he set out to erase all memory of her reign.

The Queen seems to have been very ill at death, suffering from bone cancer and possibly diabetes. This also ties in well with what we know of her. The last few years of her reign aren't well documented, the natives in the provinces were getting restless and Thutmose III seems to have taken over most of the functions of government and was putting down rebellions when she died.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. How cool.

another little piece of the puzzle. :)

[acmavm]

2. Cool! Thank you.

[Donnachaidh]

3. technically, she DID keep Thutmose III from the throne for some time

Was she found in a royal sarcophagi, or was the initial finding just a group of mummies stashed in a vault?

Discovery Channel is doing a piece on this on July 15th. I can't wait!

[bklyncowgirl]

6. She was found in the tomb of her old nurse, a woman named Sitre

Howard Carter discovered the tomb back in the 1920s. The tomb was very near the tomb of Hatshepsut and belonged to Hatshepsut's nurse, Sitre. There were two female mummy's found in the tomb. The body of Sitre was in a coffin with all of her titles, etc. The body that was just identifed as Hatshepsut was apparently just lying there. Carter took Sitre's mummy and left the other unidentified mummy. He also left a considerable amount of evidence.

Some years later, an author named Elizabeth Thomas who wrote a study of the Valley of the Kings mentioned this tomb and speculated that the unidentified mummy might be the great queen herself. Dr. Ryan back in the 1990s rediscovered the entrance to the tomb and photographed the mummy and cataloged the contents of the tomb. He believed that he had some evidence, the face plate of a royal coffin, the quality of the mummification and the position of the body, that the mummy might be Hatshepsut and suggested that it be DNA tested.

Apparently Discovery Channel funded the study and they were able to get around Egyptian qualms about DNA testing their deceased royalty to ascertain that the mummy in question was a descendent of Queen Ahmose Nefertari, long thought to be Hatshepsut's grandmother. A canopic box containing Hatshepsut's liver (and apparently her broken tooth) had been found in one of the royal mummy caches. A CAT scan of the box revealed the tooth. A scan of the mummy revealed a missing tooth. Tooth meet mummy and we have a match. Score one for Discovery Channel and Dr. Hawass of the Egyptian Antiquities Department.

What this find tells us about Hatshepsut's end is also really interesting and raises some fascinating questions. It was always the theory that Thutmose III once he was old enough, just had her assassinated and took control. The fact that he destroyed her monuments pretty much pointed to that conclusion and it's an easy one to understand. That theory began to fall apart when new finds indicated that he didn't go after her monuments until some twenty years after her death and was even depicted on one monument making offerings at her funeral.
Was he just waiting for her old supporters to die before he attacked her memory out of spite?
Did he decide that the example of a successful woman ruler was a really bad precedent and needed to be supressed?
Were there some female descendents of Hatshepsut around who might challenge his chosen heir?
Who put the mummy of the queen in the tomb? Was it people working for Thutmose III or was it the priests who tried to rescue the royal mummies during the Third Intermediate Period when the royal tombs were being robbed?

Can't wait to see the special.

[mourningdove92]

4. I'm looking forward to that show as well.

I have long been facinated by Hatchepsut.

[rocktivity]

5. I did a report on Hatshepsut when I was in high school!

Had to go to the Museum of Natural History to report on the exhibition they had on her. My sisters came along for a ride, and we each put in a nickel at the "pay what you want" gate.

:headbang:
rocknation

[bklyncowgirl]

7. Cheapskate--I used to drop in at least a buck. nt

[rocktivity]

10. Don't worry--I've always felt kind of bad about it,

and have long since atoned on subsequent visits!

:headbang:
rocknation

[LibertyLover]

8. I always liked Hatshepsut

As a kid I had a book on the pharaohs written by Elizabeth Payne. I always enjoyed the chapter on Hatshepsut. Later, on my first visit to Egypt, I got to go to Deir el Bahri. I'm glad that they were able to identify this mummy. Now I hope the SCA (Supreme Council of Antiquities, not the Society for Creative Anachronism) will try to ID the mummy that may be Ramses I, grandfather of Ramses the Great.

[Donnachaidh]

9. don't they have a special coming up on Nefertiti?

I haven't been keeping track of these specials very well.

[LibertyLover]

13. Discovery Channel, which paid for the Hatshepsut testing

and, if I understand it correctly, at least the partial equipping of the new DNA lab in the Cairo Museum basement, has a special coming up on July 15 on Hatshepsut and the identification of her mummy. I'm not sure about a new Nefertiti special. I haven't seen any advertising for one. The last one that was on was in 2006 - Nefertiti Resurrected - was on the possibility that an identified female mummy in tomb KV35 was Nefertiti's.

[bleedingheart]

11. she was an amazing woman and in spite of the efforts to erase her from history

her names lives on...in effect achieving immortality.

I read many books about her as a teen...I have always found her interesting and her father and mother were rather amazing for having raised her to be what she became...

As for who tried to erase her from history...no one will know for sure unless they find direct evidence. Perhaps Thutmose did so out of spite...but perhaps other influenced him...remember not many women were able to achieve what she had done in ancient history and I am sure she had many enemies.

[Chovexani]

12. The more things change, the more they stay the same

I've been a bit of a Hatshepsut fangirl ever since I first read about her in grade school.

I wonder if, generations from now, our descendants will shake their heads in disdain at the way our society tries to silence and minimize powerful women, just as we do to those who tried to erase Pharaoh Hatshepsut from history.

[blogslut]

14. Anyone ever read "The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody"?

By Will Cuppy?

One of best chapters is the one on Hatshepsut. According to Cuppy, the Thutmoses weren't very bright and got stupider with each generation.