The long-overlooked mummy of an obese woman who probably suffered from diabetes and liver cancer has been identified as Queen Hatshepsut, ancient Egypt's most powerful female pharaoh, Egyptian archeologists said.
A single tooth was key to solving one of the greatest mysteries of ancient Egypt, said Zahi Hawass, the country's antiquities chief.
If fully confirmed -- DNA tests are still ongoing -- the discovery could be the most significant find since the discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922, experts say.
PHOTO: EPA/THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL
Hatshepsut ruled for 20 years in the 15th century BC, dressing like a man and wearing a fake beard. A monumental builder, she wielded more power than Cleopatra and Nefertiti, who unlike her never took the title of pharaoh.
But when she died, all traces of her mysteriously disappeared, including her mummy.
In 1903, a mummy was found lying on the ground next to the sarcophagus holding the mummy of the queen's wet nurse in a tomb in the Valley of Kings burial ground in Luxor. For decades, that mummy was left unidentified and remained in the tomb because it was thought to be insignificant.
A year ago, Hawass began a search for Hatshepsut's mummy. At the same time, the Discovery Channel, which is to broadcast a documentary on the find next month, gave Egypt US$5 million to set up a DNA lab to test mummies. The lab was established in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Two months ago, the unidentified mummy was brought from Luxor to the museum for DNA testing. Hawass said his first clue that it could be the lost queen was the position of the left hand on her chest -- a traditional sign of royalty.
Experts then made a stunning match. A tooth that had been found in relic box displaying Hatshepsut's insignia and containing embalmed organs fit a gap in the mummy's jaw. Still uncompleted DNA testing also has shown similarities between the mummy and the mummy of Hatshepsut's grandmother, which was identified previously.
"We are 100 percent certain" the mummy belongs to Hatshepsut, Hawass said.
On Wednesday, Hawass unveiled both mummies -- Hatshepsut's and her wet nurse. The mummies were displayed inside glass cases draped with Egyptian flags. Hatshepsut's linen-wrapped mummy was bald and much larger than the slim, child-size mummy of the wet nurse, Sitr-In, which had rust-colored locks of hair.
Hatshepsut is believed to have stolen the throne from her stepson, Thutmose III, who scratched her name from stone records in revenge after her death.
Indonesia was to sign an agreement to repatriate two British nationals, including a grandmother languishing on death row for drug-related crimes, an Indonesian government source said yesterday. “The practical arrangement will be signed today. The transfer will be done immediately after the technical side of the transfer is agreed,” the source said, identifying Lindsay Sandiford and 35-year-old Shahab Shahabadi as the people being transferred. Sandiford, a grandmother, was sentenced to death on the island of Bali in 2013 after she was convicted of trafficking drugs. Customs officers found cocaine worth an estimated US$2.14 million hidden in a false bottom in Sandiford’s suitcase when
CAUSE UNKNOWN: Weather and runway conditions were suitable for flight operations at the time of the accident, and no distress signal was sent, authorities said A cargo aircraft skidded off the runway into the sea at Hong Kong International Airport early yesterday, killing two ground crew in a patrol car, in one of the worst accidents in the airport’s 27-year history. The incident occurred at about 3:50am, when the plane is suspected to have lost control upon landing, veering off the runway and crashing through a fence, the Airport Authority Hong Kong said. The jet hit a security patrol car on the perimeter road outside the runway zone, which then fell into the water, it said in a statement. The four crew members on the plane, which
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior partner yesterday signed a coalition deal, paving the way for Sanae Takaichi to become the nation’s first female prime minister. The 11th-hour agreement with the Japan Innovation Party (JIP) came just a day before the lower house was due to vote on Takaichi’s appointment as the fifth prime minister in as many years. If she wins, she will take office the same day. “I’m very much looking forward to working with you on efforts to make Japan’s economy stronger, and to reshape Japan as a country that can be responsible for future generations,”
SEVEN-MINUTE HEIST: The masked thieves stole nine pieces of 19th-century jewelry, including a crown, which they dropped and damaged as they made their escape The hunt was on yesterday for the band of thieves who stole eight priceless royal pieces of jewelry from the Louvre Museum in the heart of Paris in broad daylight. Officials said a team of 60 investigators was working on the theory that the raid was planned and executed by an organized crime group. The heist reignited a row over a lack of security in France’s museums, with French Minister of Justice yesterday admitting to security flaws in protecting the Louvre. “What is certain is that we have failed, since people were able to park a furniture hoist in the middle of
RSS