Mystery of Egypt's greatest queen solved
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Mystery of Egypt's greatest queen solved
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor

The centuries-old search for the mummy of Hatshepsut, the most famous
queen to rule ancient Egypt, could end today in a Cairo museum.
 
The body is believed to be that of Queen Hatshepsut
Zahi Hawass, Egypt's chief archaeologist, will hold a news conference in
the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, to announce the discovery of one of the most
powerful female monarchs of the ancient world, hailed by some as the
most important find since that of King Tutankhamun.
"Queens, especially the great ones like Nefertiti and Cleopatra, capture
our imaginations," Mr Hawass said. "But it is perhaps Hatshepsut, who
was both king and queen, who is the most fascinating."

Hatshepsut ruled during Egypt's golden age, between 1503 and 1482BC.
Today, Mr Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of
Antiquities, is expected to announce that her mummy, along with long
ringlets of hair, lies in a coffin that has been in the museum for
decades.
The mummy was one of two females found in a small tomb believed to be
that of Hatshepsut's wet-nurse, Sitre In.

Among the new evidence is a broken tooth. A box that contained the tooth
was inscribed with the female pharaoh's name, and a CT scan found that
the tooth matched within a fraction of a milli-metre the space of the
missing molar in the mummy's mouth. Further DNA tests will be carried
out to confirm her identity.

Mr Hawass said: "The discovery of the Hatshepsut mummy is one of the
most important finds in the history of Egypt. Our hope is that this
mummy will help shed light on this mystery and on the mysterious nature
of her death."

The tomb where her body was found, called KV60, was discovered in the
Valley of the Kings in Luxor by Howard Carter in 1903. Along with
mummified geese and other offerings were the bodies of two elderly
women, one in a coffin labelled with the name and title of the Great
Royal Nurse, In, and the other, an unknown female, which was lying
uncoffined on the floor. The coffin and the mummy it contained were
later moved to the Egyptian Museum.
In 1920, Carter found the tomb of Queen Hatshepsut but the two coffins
it contained were empty.

Egyptologists have suggested over the years that one of the mummies from
KV60 could be that of the queen. One speculated that the mummy on the
floor was Hatshepsut, because her arm rested in a position reserved for
monarchs.
Mr Hawaas has now found the tooth "fits exactly" into the jaw socket and
broken root of the mummy of an obese woman originally found in KV 60.
Further CT scans led physicians to conclude that the woman died when she
was about 50. She was overweight and had bad teeth. She probably had
diabetes and appears to have died of bone cancer, which had spread
through her body.

The smaller body, which was mummified in fine linen, had the gap that
matched Hatshepsut's tooth. "I think the face is quite royal, and
believe that anyone who sees it will have the same reaction," said Mr
Hawass.
He believes priests moved Hatshepsut's mummy to KV60, which probably was
intended for Sitre In. The mummy could have been moved to the
wet-nurse's coffin for security, since her monuments and tomb were
demolished by her jealous successor Tuthmosis III.

Hatshepsut was a fascinating figure because the concept of divine
kingship in ancient Egypt had its roots in religious myth, which decreed
that the king's role could not be fulfilled by a woman.
Hatshepsut had to create a new story of her divine birth in order to win
over her people. She had herself depicted in the traditional male
garments of the pharaoh - including a false beard.