Queen Hatshepsut's remains possably discovered
 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070625/...egypt_mummy_dc

Egyptologists think they have identified with certainty the mummy of Hatshepsut, the most famous queen to rule ancient Egypt, found in a humble tomb in the Valley of the Kings, an archaeologist said on Monday.

Egypt's chief archaeologist, Zahi Hawass, will hold a news conference in Cairo on Wednesday. The Discovery Channel said he would announce what it called the most important find in the Valley of the Kings since the discovery of King Tutankhamun.

The archaeologist, who asked not to be named, said the candidate for identification as the mummy of Hatshepsut was one of two females found in 1903 in a small tomb believed to be that of Hatshepsut's wet-nurse, Sitre In.

Several Egyptologists have speculated over the years that one of the mummies was that of the queen, who ruled from between 1503 and 1482 BC -- at the height of ancient Egypt's power.

The archaeologist said Hawass would present new evidence for an identification but that not all Egyptologists are convinced he will be able to prove his case.

"It's based on teeth and body parts ... It's an interesting piece of scientific deduction which might point to the truth," the archaeologist said.

Egyptologist Elizabeth Thomas speculated many years ago that one of the mummies was Hatshepsut's because the positioning of the right arm over the woman's chest suggested royalty.

Her mummy may have been hidden in the tomb for safekeeping after her death because her stepson and successor, Tuthmosis III, tried to obliterate her memory.

Donald Ryan, an Egyptologist who rediscovered the tomb in 1989, said on an Internet discussion board this month that there were many possibilities for the identities of the two female mummies found in the tomb, known as KV 60.

"Zahi Hawass recently has taken some major steps to address these questions. Both of the KV 60 mummies are in Cairo now and are being examined in various clever ways that very well might shed light on these questions," he added.

In an undated article on his Web site, Hawass cast doubt on the theory that the KV-60 mummy with the folded right arm was that of Hatshepsut.

"I do not believe this mummy is Hatshepsut. She has a very large, fat body with huge pendulous breasts, and the position of her arm is not convincing evidence of royalty," he wrote.

He was more optimistic about the mummy found in the wet-nurse's coffin and traditionally identified as the nurse's. That mummy is stored away in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

"The body of the mummy now in KV 60 with its huge breasts may be the wet-nurse, the original occupant of the coffin ... The mummy on the third floor at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo could be the mummy of Hatshepsut," Hawass wrote.

Raph's Girl note: I love how Zahi thinks it's not Hatshepsut cuz the boobs are too big. :lol:

This is awesome! I find it funny that they keep saying she was queen of Egypt. She wasn't. She was Pharaoh. All of the images of her had her wearing a fake goatee and everything.

And I agree with you about the boob thing. "Oh it's not who you think it is because she doesn't have the correct boob size or shape." How dumb is that? It's known that Egypt's rulers had all images of themselves made to make them look like gods. They were supposed to be sons of Ra. Why have images of yourself looking like an ugly human being when you were a god? As far as I know there has been only one Pharaoh that didn't do this. All statues of him had archaeologists confused because he didn't have the perfect body that all Pharaoh's seemed to have.

Side note: It's also quite possible that Nefertiti's mummy has been found as well but I don't think there will be any real news about that until some more testing can be done.

It's official!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070627/...egypt_queen_dc

A single tooth has clinched the identification of an ancient mummy as that of Queen Hatshepsut, who ruled Egypt about 3,500 years ago, the country's chief archaeologist said on Wednesday.

The right mummy turned out to be that of a fat woman in her 50s who had rotten teeth and died of bone cancer, Zahi Hawass told a news conference to announce the identification.

It was found in 1903 in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings, where the young Pharaoh Tutankhamun was buried, and Hawass himself thought until recently that it belonged to the owner of the tomb, Hatshepsut's wet-nurse by the name of Sitre In.

But the decisive evidence was a molar in a wooden box inscribed with the queen's name, found in 1881 in a cache of royal mummies collected and hidden away for safekeeping at the Deir al-Bahari temple about 1,000 meters (yards) away.

During the embalming process, it was common to set aside spare body parts and preserve them in such a box.

Orthodontics professor Yehya Zakariya checked all the mummies which might be Hatshepsut's and found that the tooth was a perfect fit in a gap in the upper jaw of the fat woman.

"The identification of the tooth with the jaw can show this is Hatshepsut," Hawass said. "A tooth is like a fingerprint."

"It is 100 percent definitive. It is 1.80 cm (wide) and the dentist took the measurement and studied that part. He found it fit exactly 100 percent with this part," he told Reuters.

DNA TESTS

The team examining the mummy are also doing DNA tests and preliminary results show similarities between its DNA and that of Ahmose Nefertari, the wife of the founder of the 18th dynasty and a probable ancestor of Hatsephsut's.

DNA analysis is complicated because Hawass recently concluded that the mummy once assumed to be that of Tuthmosis I, Hatshepsut's father, is not in fact his. It belongs to a much younger man who died from an arrow wound, he said.

Asked why he would not wait for more complete DNA analysis, Hawass said: "You do not need anything else (other than the tooth) ... And we do have a definite answer now on the similarity between Hatshepsut and the grandmother, Ahmose Nefertari."

One Egyptologist, who asked not to be named, said not all archaeologists were confident the identification was watertight. "It's an interesting piece of scientific deduction which might point to the truth," the archaeologist said.

The New York Times quoted Kathryn Bard, an Egyptologist at Boston University, as saying: "You have to be so careful in reaching conclusions from such data."

The confusion about the identities of many royal mummies often arises from political events after they died.

Hatshepsut's tomb, for example, was found looted and without any mummified female, possibly because her son and successor, Tuthmosis III, tried to wipe out all traces of her memory after she died in about 1482 BC.

Priests probably moved the collection of 40 royal mummies, including the box with the tooth, to Deir al-Bahari hundreds of years after the pharaohs died, in order to protect them from desecration and looting during a time of insecurity.

Raph's Girl note: Wow!! That's like the find of the decade!!! :o

Holy crap!!! That is freaking awesome!!!! Apparently no one else on this forum cares about this kind of news but you know what... I do!!! That is just sooooo amazing!!!! I mean, it's crazy-awesome!!! SWEET!:D

I think it's really interesting, but can't think of anything to say that won't make me sound like the stupidest person ever u_u;; I've never heard of Hatshepsut. Apparently I'm oblivious to such things?

Pharoah Hatshepsut was one of the great female rulers of history. Egypt experienced a time of peace during her reign as she encouraged trade not war. One of the nations she traded with most was Djabouti for its wealth in something, can't remeber what though. It's really cool they finally found/proved her mummy.

She was one of the most early of the female Pharoahs and ruled in the 18th Dynasty. She ruled for about 22 years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatshepsut

Ah, yes but it's believed that she did led a number of military campaigns that were successful.

Is....Brendan Fraser involved?

Holy crap! That was funny.:lol:

No no, that would've been Nefertiti.

Man, isn't this a coincidence? I was just learning about her last term in Ancient History :lol:

It's amazing to think that Hatshepsut has been found after all this time. I mean, according to what I have studied, she was the most powerful woman of her time and yet after she died, the people eventually started looking upon her as an evil woman who tried to take a man's role in life. If they talk about her like that, you would think they wouldn't give her a decent burial. I guess that proves it wrong, no?