Skin and Bones
I don't know if many of you know that I love archeology. Hence I am always all ear when some shovel hits a stone, sacrophargus or silver spoon beneath some layers of sand.
The lastest find just happened last month, when a long-overlooked mummy has been identified as Queen Hatshepsut, ancient Egypt's most powerful female pharaoh.
Kids, she is bigger and more powerful than Cleopatra or Nefertiti (who never took the title of pharaoh). She also reigned the longest (20 years), despite controversy to her sitting on the throne, and we all know what can be done with snakes and a bit of poison back in those days.
Hatshepsut stole the throne from her young stepson, she is said to have dressed herself as a man and wearing a fake beard, and in an unprecedented move, declared herself Pharaoh. "Carpe Diem" she might have thought and went for it. In her defense, no wars occured under her reign and her queendom prospered.
When she died, all traces of her mysteriously disappeared, including her mummy. Shocking! Maybe an upset evil stepson should be questioned. What with technology being what it is, I am sure we can create such an interrogation in no time.
They already found her in 1903 when a mummy was found lying on the ground next to the sarcophagus holding the mummy of the queen's wet nurse,Sitr-In, in a tomb in the Valley of Kings burial ground in Luxor. Being thought of as insignificant, it was left in the tomb for decades. Apparently they have a bunch of unidentified mummies lying around and every once in a while they have a crack at one. Their first clue should have been the position of the left hand on her chest, a traditional sign of royalty, but I wasn't there to point that out way back then.
Speaking of the full range of forensic technology to identify mysteries, this time around the key clue was a tooth found in a relic box inscribed with Hatshepsut's name and cartouche. Really? That´s just amazing. This single tooth, however, was found previously and a CAT scan revealed that this tooth exactly matches and is indeed the missing tooth from this mummy's jaw. There goes my whole belief in the tooth fairy!
In all fairness though, to double check they made an DNA comparison with the mummy of Ahmose Nefertari, Hatshepsut's grandmother, and results show a clear link. As if I was gonna buy that tooth story!
This discovery is the most significant find since the discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922. Well ok, but those experts really don't know that I found the second sock to my favourite pair the other day. It's been lost for weeks!
Queen Hatshepsut was about 50 when she died of some combination of metastatic bone cancer, diabetes, and liver cancer. The first thing said about her was that she was obese. Now that just goes to show, even when you are just skin and bones, you still are way too big!
oh and "Rabbit, rabbit" to each and everyone.
The lastest find just happened last month, when a long-overlooked mummy has been identified as Queen Hatshepsut, ancient Egypt's most powerful female pharaoh.
Kids, she is bigger and more powerful than Cleopatra or Nefertiti (who never took the title of pharaoh). She also reigned the longest (20 years), despite controversy to her sitting on the throne, and we all know what can be done with snakes and a bit of poison back in those days.
Hatshepsut stole the throne from her young stepson, she is said to have dressed herself as a man and wearing a fake beard, and in an unprecedented move, declared herself Pharaoh. "Carpe Diem" she might have thought and went for it. In her defense, no wars occured under her reign and her queendom prospered.
When she died, all traces of her mysteriously disappeared, including her mummy. Shocking! Maybe an upset evil stepson should be questioned. What with technology being what it is, I am sure we can create such an interrogation in no time.
They already found her in 1903 when a mummy was found lying on the ground next to the sarcophagus holding the mummy of the queen's wet nurse,Sitr-In, in a tomb in the Valley of Kings burial ground in Luxor. Being thought of as insignificant, it was left in the tomb for decades. Apparently they have a bunch of unidentified mummies lying around and every once in a while they have a crack at one. Their first clue should have been the position of the left hand on her chest, a traditional sign of royalty, but I wasn't there to point that out way back then.
Speaking of the full range of forensic technology to identify mysteries, this time around the key clue was a tooth found in a relic box inscribed with Hatshepsut's name and cartouche. Really? That´s just amazing. This single tooth, however, was found previously and a CAT scan revealed that this tooth exactly matches and is indeed the missing tooth from this mummy's jaw. There goes my whole belief in the tooth fairy!In all fairness though, to double check they made an DNA comparison with the mummy of Ahmose Nefertari, Hatshepsut's grandmother, and results show a clear link. As if I was gonna buy that tooth story!
This discovery is the most significant find since the discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922. Well ok, but those experts really don't know that I found the second sock to my favourite pair the other day. It's been lost for weeks!Queen Hatshepsut was about 50 when she died of some combination of metastatic bone cancer, diabetes, and liver cancer. The first thing said about her was that she was obese. Now that just goes to show, even when you are just skin and bones, you still are way too big!
oh and "Rabbit, rabbit" to each and everyone.
Labels: History
