Posted on 06/26/2007 2:41:36 PM PDT by blam
Egyptologists Think They Have Hatshepsut's Mummy
Sculpted Head to show Egyptian Headress taken at Met. Museum of Art.
Jonathan Wright
June 25, 2007
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.
Related Stories Egyptians Find 4,000-Year-Old MummyScientists to Do CT Scan on Mummy CorpseTop Technology stories Judge Won't Address Google's Complaints About MicrosoftPoison Ivy Getting More Poisonous -- Global Warming to Blame?What Hit Siberia in 1908? Scientists Say They've Found Crater 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.
Related Stories Egyptians Find 4,000-Year-Old MummyScientists to Do CT Scan on Mummy CorpseTop Technology stories Study: Poison Ivy Growing Bigger, Faster, More PoisonousWhat Hit Siberia in 1908? Scientists Say They've Found CraterAll Quiet on the Digital Dial 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 wetnurse, 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.
GGG Ping.
KING TUT
What are they doin with his Mummy? Is she kidnapped? I bet he is worried and they should return her.
“with huge pendulous breasts.”
That should be enough to get Klintoon going.
What IS it with Zahi Hawass? What a media whore that guy is.
Mummies and pyramids and other such pre-muhammad garbage are anti-islamic; they should all be destroyed...as should those who work with them or admire them or every now and then think about them.
Wow. I saw the Hatshepsut exhibit tour last year. Great exhibit! Very cool if it proves true.
When 4,000 years you reach, look as good you will not! hmm?
Very interesting. [A good break from the nyah-nyah-Hunter, nyah-nyah-Fred threads. Sigh,]
Hmmmm. If the fat mummy with the big ta-tas is really Her Majesty, then she had some really good artists on the payroll...
I bet there’s a Goa’uld inside!
Amelia Peabody, please call the office!
Hey... was he a mosquleuim or a bapistie? It’s hard for me and sis to keep all this stuff skraight.
You even got the Discovery Channel dude there I don’t think Looter guy was around during Hatsheputat day so don’t put him there
Mummified huge pendulous breasts?
Okaaaay
Who is going to post pics!
a condo made of stona...
ping...
Mummy of Egyptian queen Hatshepsut may have been found
(in a humble tomb in the Valley of the Kings)
Reuters on Yahoo | 6/25/07 | Jonathan Wright
Posted on 06/25/2007 11:05:18 PM EDT by NormsRevenge
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