Newsroom University of Manchester

Tombs reveal Ancient Egyptian religion was constantly evolving, book reveals

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 09:00:00 +0100

Ancient Egyptian religion was not as fixed and unchanging as many people imagine, according to new research by Manchester Egyptologist Dr Huw Twiston Davies.

His new book reveals that beliefs and funerary practices evolved even within a single generation, showing that ancient Egyptian religion was dynamic, adaptable and shaped by changing social priorities.

The study focuses on tombs at Saqqara, one of Egypt’s most important burial sites, and explores how tomb owners commissioned and decorated their burial spaces in ways that reflected both tradition and contemporary change.

Key insights

Ancient Egyptian funerary texts were not fully standardised during this period, and varied between tombs
Tomb decoration involved the choices and priorities of the tomb owner or commissioner
Religious practices and funerary fashions could change within a single generation
Local traditions shaped how beliefs were expressed in places such as Saqqara
Egyptian religion was flexible and evolving rather than completely fixed over time

Why this matters

Ancient Egypt is often portrayed as a civilisation governed by rigid traditions and unchanging religious beliefs lasting thousands of years.

However this research challenges that perception, revealing a society in which religious ideas and funerary practices adapted over time, even across the span of a single lifetime.

Rather than being rigid, Egyptian religious culture responded to changing tastes, priorities and local traditions.

A human story told through tombs

At the heart of the book is the idea that tombs were highly personal spaces.

The decoration, inscriptions and arrangement of funerary texts within tombs at Saqqara reflected the involvement of those commissioning them. While these tombs drew on established religious traditions, they also reveal changing fashions and evolving approaches to the afterlife.

Two tombs built only a generation apart could already show noticeable differences in style, emphasis and religious presentation.

What the research found

Drawing on archaeological evidence from Saqqara, the study shows that:

Funerary texts and images differed between tombs during this period
Tomb decoration reflected individual commissions rather than a single rigid template
Religious styles and practices evolved noticeably over relatively short periods of time

The findings challenge the long-standing image of Egyptian religion as static and entirely controlled from the top down by priests and kings.

Why Saqqara matters

Saqqara, the necropolis of ancient Memphis, provides an unusually rich record of religious and artistic change.

The book demonstrates how local traditions shaped tomb decoration and funerary expression, revealing how broader religious beliefs could be adapted differently within particular communities.

A different view of ancient religion

The research presents ancient Egyptian religion as:

Evolving rather than fixed
Influenced by local communities and changing fashions
Shaped through personal commissions and lived experience

In short, the study suggests that ancient Egyptians were not simply preserving ancient traditions unchanged - they were continually adapting them for new generations.

Publication details

The Transmission of the Book of the Dead in New Kingdom Tombs at Saqqara will be published in paperback by Bloomsbury Academic on June 25^th, but is also currently available to read online via Open Access.

How the last meal of a 3,000-year-old Egyptian crocodile was brought back to life using modern science

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 13:19:32 +0100

How the last meal of a 3,000-year-old Egyptian crocodile was brought back to life using modern science

What do you think of when you think about ancient Egyptian mummies? Perhaps your mind takes you back to a school trip to the museum, when you came face to face with a mummified person inside a glass case. Or maybe you think of mummies as depicted by Hollywood, the emerging zombie-like from their sandy tombs with dirtied bandages billowing in the breeze.

It might surprise you to know that the Egyptians also preserved millions of animals.

In a recent study, my colleagues and I revealed extraordinary details about the final hours in the life of a crocodile that was mummified by the ancient Egyptian embalmers. Using a CT scanner, we were able to determine how the animal died and how the body was treated after death.

To the Egyptians, animals served an important religious function, moving between the earthly and divine realms. Hawks were associated with the sun god, Horus, because they flew high in the sky, closer to the sun (and therefore to the god himself). Cats were linked to the goddess Bastet, a brave and ferociously protective maternal figure.

Most animal mummies were created as votive offerings or gifts.

Animal mummies provide a snapshot of the natural world, taken between approximately 750BC and AD250. Some of these mummified species are no longer found in Egypt.

For example, ancient Egyptians would have seen sacred ibises, long-legged wading birds with curved beaks, along the banks of the Nile every day. The birds were mummified in their millions as offerings to Thoth, the god of wisdom and writing. The birds are no longer in Egypt as climate change and the effects of desertification have made them move south to Ethiopia.

Another commonly mummified animal was the crocodile. Although crocodiles lived in the Nile during ancient times, the completion of the Aswan Dam in 1970 prevented them from moving northwards towards the delta in lower Egypt.

Crocodiles were associated with Sobek, Lord of the Nile and the god whose presence signalled the annual Nile flood which provided water and nutrient-rich silt to their agricultural land.

Crocodiles were mummified in huge numbers as offerings to Sobek. They were used as talismans throughout pharaonic Egypt to ward off evil, either by wearing crocodile skins as clothing, or by hanging a crocodile over the doors of homes.

Most crocodile mummies are of small animals, which suggests that the Egyptians had the means to hatch and keep the young alive until they were required. Archaeological evidence reinforces this theory, with the discovery of areas dedicated to the incubation of eggs and rearing of hatchlings. Some were pampered as cult animals and allowed to die a natural death.

As the crocodiles grew larger, the risk to crocodile keepers increased, suggesting perhaps that larger specimens were captured in the wild and hastily dispatched for mummification. Research on the mummified remains of larger animals has revealed evidence of skull trauma inflicted by humans probably as an attempt to immobilise and kill the animal.

What we found

The crocodile mummy in our study holds evidence to suggest how these animals might have been caught. The mummy is held in the collection of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, UK, and measures 2.23 metres long. In May 2016, the large crocodile mummy, which formed part of a wider study by a team of researchers I work with from the University of Manchester, was transported to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital to undergo a series of radiographic studies.

Medical imaging techniques allow researchers to study ancient artefacts without destroying them, the way that studies of mummies once did.

X-rays and CT scans showed that the animal’s digestive tract was filled with small stones known as “gastroliths”. Crocodiles often swallow small stones to help them digest food and regulate buoyancy. The gastroliths suggest the embalmers did not carry out evisceration, the process of removing the internal organs to delay putrefaction.

Among the stones, the images also showed the presence of a metal fish hook and a fish.

The study suggests that large, mummified crocodiles were captured in the wild using hooks baited with fish. It adds weight to the account of Greek historian, Herodotus, who visited Egypt in the 5th century BC and wrote about pigs being beaten on the banks of the river to lure the crocodiles, which were caught on baited hooks placed in the Nile.

Unlike many aspects of life in ancient Egypt, little information was recorded relating to animal worship and mummification. Classical writers who travelled to the country remain some of our best sources of information.

Colleagues from the Birmingham School of Jewellery helped replicate the hook in bronze, the metal most likely to have been used to create the ancient original, for display alongside the crocodile mummy.

Modern technology is helping us to learn more and more about our ancient past. I can only imagine what secrets technology might help reveal in the future.

Lidija M. Mcknight, Lecturer in Biomedical Egyptology, University of Manchester

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Croc’s deadly last meal in Ancient Egypt unearthed

Fri, 12 Jul 2024 14:10:00 +0100

Scientists have used state of the art 3D imaging technology to piece together the life - and probable death - of a 2.2 metre-long crocodile mummified by the ancient Egyptians.

The researchers from The University of Manchester, along with Loughborough and Birmingham City Universities, revealed a freshly eaten fish still attached to its hook in the beast’s stomach, which probably killed it.

Using specialist software in combination with X-ray and CT scanning, the scientists were able to virtually extract the hook from the mummy, and then construct a replica first in plastic and then cast in its original material, bronze.

The age of the animal mummy - kept at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and known by its accession number, 2005.335 – could be anything from between 2,000 and 3,000 years old, when the practice of mummifying animals was at its peak.

The study funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Leverhulme Trust is published in the journal Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage.

The croc had swallowed considerable numbers of small stones known as gastroliths while alive to break down of chunks of meat and regulate buoyancy.

The presence of more gastroliths higher up in the digestive tract, say the authors, indicate an attempt to break down the animal’s last meal, and showed it died before they reached its stomach.

The skeletal integrity of the fish also suggests that it was swallowed whole and had not yet been affected by the harsh digestive enzymes present in the first chamber of the crocodile’s stomach or the abrasive action of the gastroliths.

The apparent short time span between the ingestion of the fish and the death of the crocodile also suggest, say the researchers, it was deliberately caught in the wild and processed for mummification as an offering to the crocodile god Sobek shortly afterwards.

Healthy crocodiles were associated with fertility and plentiful agriculture. The Egyptians also believed you could protect yourself from danger by wearing clothing made from the skin of the animal.

Lead author Dr Lidija Mcknight Research Fellow from The University of Manchester, said: “Crocodile mummy 2005.335 was a unique opportunity to apply scientific analysis to a large animal mummy.

“Our work revealed a great amount of information, both about the life of the crocodile and the post-mortem treatment of it remains.

“Mummies have long been a source of fascination for museum visitors of all ages. Our work provides a unique opportunity to connect visitors to the story of this animal.”

She added: “Whereas earlier studies favoured invasive techniques such as unwrapping and autopsy, 3D radiography provides the ability to see inside without damaging these important and fascinating artefacts.

“We took take the process a step further by replicating the hook in its original material, bronze.

“The Egyptians probably used a hardened clay mould into which the molten metal, melted over a charcoal-based heat source, would have been poured.

“Despite the passing of several millennia between the production of the ancient fish hook and the modern replica, the casting process remains remarkably similar.”

Images :

Crocodile in the CT scanner
The reconstructed hook
The skeleton with gastroliths in stomach, obscuring the hook
Xray showing hook in the animal

The paper, Seeing is believing – The application of Three-Dimensional modelling technologies to reconstruct the final hours in the life of an ancient Egyptian Crocodile, was published in the journal Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.daach.2024.e00356

Researchers extol skills of ancient Egyptian medics

Wed, 20 Dec 2023 10:33:00 +0000

Cleopatra would have been in safe hands if she really had been bitten by a snake, or a affected by any number of illnesses - say University of Manchester Egyptologists in a new book.

Medicine and Healing Practices in Ancient Egypt by Professor Rosalie David and Dr Roger Forshaw, is one of the first to consider the perspective of doctors who delivered medical and related treatments, and the patients who they cared for.

Amongst the gems the book covers, is a description of treatments for snake bites found in the Brooklyn Papyrus- one of the oldest preserved writings about medicine dated to around 450 BCE.

The book, published by Liverpool University Press , also details how the ancient Egyptians dealt with old age, their attitudes to deformity and disability, court punishments, insecticides and pesticides and treatment of trauma.

Medical care in ancient Egypt was universally available to men, women and children in all levels of society. Different treatments were carried out in various locations including temple areas, worksites and towns.

To offset the danger of being bitten and poisoned by snakes and scorpions, the Egyptians prayed to deities associated with the creatures.

They used magical spells to ward off snake bites and also to cure their effects, but patients also had practical treatments, some of which were painful, though effective.

According to the researchers, onions, a naturally occurring compound called natron, wound incision and bandaging were all used by the ancient medics of Egypt to treat snake and scorpion bites.

Though previous research by University of Manchester Egyptologists dismissed the long-held argument that the ancient Egyptian queen Cleopatra was killed by a snake, bites by scorpions and snakes were common hazard in ancient Egypt.

The Brooklyn Papyrus is a scroll which describes different snakes found at the time and treatments for their bites. The manuscript also contains treatments of scorpion and spider bites.

Measures include the ‘knife treatment’ which was likely to be aimed at incising the wound to relieve tissue fluid as well as limiting absorption of the venom.

Bandaging was sometimes advised and used to retain specific medications rather than as a tourniquet to prevent the spread of venom.

Natron, which can be found in saline lake beds in arid environments, has the capacity to reduce swelling by osmosis and act as an early antiseptic for wounds and cuts

It was also used to prepare mummies and as a fish and meat preservative, a household insecticide, part of the leather making process, and a bleach for clothing.

Almost 100 prescriptions are listed in the Brooklyn Papyrus, many of them of herbal origin.

Onion was the commonest ingredient of the remedies, probably because of its ability to repel snakes.

The sulfonic acid in onions, the same chemical that causes tears when onions are chopped, has a deterrent effect on snakes.

Professor Rosalie David, emeritus professor of biomedical Egyptology said: “Throughout much of its history, ancient Egypt exerted considerable political, military and cultural influence over neighbouring lands.

“The Egyptian healthcare system was advanced and successful, not least for devising innovative ways to treat snake bites and save lives.

“Its achievements although widely praised in antiquity, are often not fully recognised today.

“This ancient Egyptian medicine was even evident in medieval and later practices in Europe, and some aspects still survive today in modern ‘Western’ medicine.”

Dr Roger Forshaw, an honorary lecturer at The University of Manchester, said: “Healers and care providers were essential to the Egyptian medical system, and offered a wide range of treatment methods.

“Certain types of healthcare, training and practice developed simultaneously in various locations including temples, palaces, towns and villages, battlefields and building sites.

“Surgery, pharmaceutical therapy and magico-religious treatments were available which made use of bandages and splints, medical instruments, prostheses and pharmaceutical prescriptions.”

The book, Medicine and Healing Practices in Ancient Egypt, is published by Liverpool University Press

Images :

Healing statue holding snakes
Coffin of Khnum-Nakht
Statue of Sekhmet, goddess of medicine who has protective snake on her forehead - snakes and scorpions were simultaneously good and evil - dangerous and therefore had to be appeased through deification and worship.

Influencing perception: How can video games shape our understanding of historical events?

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 15:30:00 +0000

It’s an industry with an estimated 2.5 billion global players with games played on consoles, mobile devices and VR headsets. How can video games be a tool that offers educational benefits to this worldwide audience?

Following on from the livestream event, Dr Nielsen gave an insight into how video game representation of history can enhance public understanding in an engaging and educational way.

Dr Nielsen said:

The open-world format of such games gives the gamer the opportunity to play the game in a different way to others, interpreting different elements as they play through. How historical accuracy be maintained when creating a game to be played in the modern day continues to be challenge for historians.

Dr Nielsen added:

This billion-dollar, multi-billion player industry has a significant capability to influence historical understanding whilst tackling the need for a clear, in-game structure that can begin to question some of those accuracies. Overall, video games can be a helpful tool in understanding history but there is a challenge in sometimes telling the difference between the real and virtual worlds.

Five discoveries that changed our understanding of how the ancient Egyptians created mummies

Thu, 02 Mar 2023 07:37:11 +0000

Five discoveries that changed our understanding of how the ancient Egyptians created mummies

Centuries after the first golden coffins were taken to Europe, ancient Egyptian mummies still vividly capture people’s imaginations. Perhaps we’re awed by the grandeur of their rituals and tradition. But new discoveries keep challenging scientists’ perception of these ancient rites.

As a biomedical Egyptologist, I study mummies to learn about life in ancient populations. Over the last 10 years, I have seen a big change in our understanding of how, why and when mummies were created. This has mostly been driven by new scientific discoveries. Here are five of the most important ones that have changed what we know about this ancient process.

1. Mummification is older than archaeologists imagined

For decades, the oldest known mummies came from the Old Kingdom era (c.2500-2100BC) around the time Egyptians started using coffins more. These mummies are rare, but they show signs of being specially prepared by embalmers. Mummies from before the Old Kingdom period were thought to have been created naturally by burying bodies in graves cut into the hot, dry sand. Scientists thought embalming was developed to keep bodies preserved inside coffins.

But chemical tests published in 2014 and 2018 showed that resins and perfumes were already being used to help preserve the skin of the dead over 6,000 years ago, before coffins were common and long before the Old Kingdom era.

2. The ‘recipe’ varied across Egypt

Recent scientific studies of mummies and pots used in mummification revealed how methods differed from place to place and weren’t standardised, as previously thought.

Each region had its own embalming workshops where mummies were produced in a complicated and closely guarded ritual. This secrecy means very few records survived.

Embalmers living in politically important areas such as Thebes (modern-day Luxor) had access to the latest mummification materials, as part of an extensive trade network. In more remote areas such as oases, embalmers had to make do. Natron salt, used to dry the body, was heavy and difficult to transport. Resins and perfumes could be expensive as they were traded over long distances in exchange for other luxury goods.

Instead, the embalmers in these remote areas developed creative techniques. For instance, they used sticks to make mummy bundles more rigid or to attach body parts that fell off during mummification. They also created composite mummies, made up of the parts of several people.

We don’t fully understand how experimentation in mummification emerged in different areas or time periods. There was probably an element of trial and error though.

3. Ancient accounts were not always reliable

The information we have about mummification comes mostly from two ancient Greek writers, Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus. They describe the steps of mummification such as using a hook to remove the brain through the nose. They also tell us the heart was left in the body because it was thought to be important for the afterlife.

Scientific studies using CT scanning have now shown the rules of mummification were less rigid than Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus thought. Only around a quarter of known mummies have their heart left in the body. And many mummies still have their brain. If the embalmers did take the brain out, they sometimes used different methods to avoid damaging the face. Holes have been found in the bottom of the skull and through different routes into the nose.

Not everyone could afford new linens or coffins for their dead loved one. Andrea Izzotti/Shutterstock

4. Egyptians upcycled coffins

In ancient Egypt, wood for coffins was scarce and expensive. Not everyone could afford a new coffin or linen wrappings. A good coffin – but not a luxurious one – in the New Kingdom would cost about five goats or 250 loaves of bread.

Upcycling and recycling are not modern concepts. To save money, embalmers would often take coffins from tombs already in use. These could be repainted to include the name of the new owner or the parts were sometimes used to fashion a new coffin. Tombs were often raided by robbers looking for valuables, and afterwards they were often left open. This made it easy for others to search the tomb for coffins and wrappings to reuse.

Household linens were also often used as mummy wrappings once they outlived their usefulness. Modern research techniques such as radiocarbon dating are showing this practice was widespread. Coffin materials, linen wrappings and other materials are sometimes dated several hundred years older than the person they were buried with.

5. The tourist trade scrambled history

We now know mummies in museums outside of Egypt are not always in the coffins they were discovered in. Many mummies are given a historical date based on their coffin style and decoration. The shape, decoration and religious texts on them changed over time.

But in the 19th and early 20th centuries, mummies were sold to tourists, scientists or collectors. Sellers put well-wrapped mummies into coffins from different tombs to encourage people to buy them. The mismatch only comes to light when a mummy is studied scientifically.

It is now illegal to take mummies or any other ancient artefact from Egypt. There are still a lot of mummies left in private houses though, bought more than a century ago and sometimes forgotten about.

Instead of one unwavering tradition, Egyptian mummification was variable. The funerary rituals available to someone demonstrated how important they and their family were. Being mummified using the most up-to-date techniques and materials not only helped secured a person’s position in the afterlife, it was an important sign of status.

It is impossible to know what the next archaeological or scientific find will show us. But one thing is clear: even ancient embalmers had to improvise sometimes.

Jenefer Metcalfe, Lecturer in Biomedical Egyptology, University of Manchester

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Five things science has told us about the mummy of Tutankhamun

Thu, 03 Nov 2022 10:43:35 +0000

One hundred years ago, our understanding of ancient Egypt changed forever when the tomb of King Tutankhamun was found on November 4, 1922 in the Valley of Kings. Born around 1305BC, Tutankhamun only ruled Egypt for about ten years. Yet his tomb was furnished with never-before-seen riches.

Our fascination with mummies is understandable. Gazing on the face of a prehistoric Egyptian king makes these ethereal and majestic rulers seem more real. The discovery of Tutankhamun in his original resting place, complete with all his possessions, makes us feel a connection to a primeval past. It transports us back in time to the funeral of a young king.

Studies of Tutankhamun’s life are often overshadowed by the sensational rumours that surround the discovery of his tomb, such as persistent whispers of a curse. But if we allow the gossip to get in the way of seeing Tutankhamen the person, we’ll miss out.

1. Tutankhamun’s death is still a mystery

It’s difficult to find out why someone who lived a long time ago died. Tutankhamun is no exception. People in ancient Egypt lived shorter lives because they didn’t have the same healthcare as we do. But Tutankhamun died at around 19 years old, which was young even for ancient Egypt.

Recently, studies using x-rays, CT scans and DNA testing showed Tutankhamun had malaria, along with some other medical conditions such as a cleft palate. He also broke his leg just before he died. This information helps us build a picture of Tutankhamun’s health before his death. It doesn’t tell us exactly how he died though, except that there is no sign he was murdered.

Tomb of Tutankhamun, Luxor, Egypt. Nick Brundle Photography/Shutterstock

2. He was buried with flowers

When Tutankhamun’s tomb was opened in 1922, he was wearing a collar made of flowers. They were in good condition because they were sealed inside the coffin with him. Funeral bouquets have been found on other mummies. But this is the only royal burial where all the flowers were found just as the ancient Egyptian mourners left them.

Flowers were important to ancient Egyptians, who painted pictures of flower gardens on the walls of their tombs. Flowers were admired for their beauty, their perfume and for symbolic reasons. Studies of the flowers and fruits used in the collar show that Tutankhamun was buried between mid-March and late-April. Preparing his body for burial would have taken 70 days, which means Tutankhamun most likely died in wintertime.

3. Tutankhamun’s appearance was preserved by special techniques

The ancient Egyptians followed a “recipe” when they mummified a person. After removing the brain and internal organs, a salt called natron was used to dry the body out. This produced a mummy that could survive for thousands of years but had a shrunken, gaunt appearance.

Ancient Egyptians believed the soul, or Ka, needed to return to its body to exist in the afterlife but the Ka had to be able to recognise its body. So, to make his face appear more lifelike, substances such as resin were pushed under the skin of Tutankhamun’s face to plump it out.

Until recently it has been assumed that Tutankhamun was embalmed quickly and poorly because he died suddenly. But the most recent CT scans show this is not true. Packing out the face would have taken time and skill.

4. Tutankhamun had company on his journey into the afterlife

It is hard to escape the mental image of Tutankhamun lying in his tomb in splendid isolation. He was not, however, the only person buried in the tomb. Two miniature coffins were found in a wooden box in the tomb’s treasury.

A study published in 2011 showed these coffins contained two female foetuses. One was around five-to-six months gestation, the other was around nine months gestation, dying at or around the time of birth. It is most likely these are the daughters of Tutankhamun and his wife Ankhesenamun, and that they died before their father.

It is rare to find a mummified foetus. The ancient Egyptians did mummify some children but even this was uncommon. The loss of his children was obviously very important to Tutankhamun, so he wanted them with him in the afterlife.

5. Fame has not always been kind to Tutankhamun

As many of our celebrities today will testify, fame isn’t always good for you. This is certainly the case for Tutankhamun, whose renown has brought overzealous scientific study and damage to his body.

Tutankhamun is probably the most studied mummy in the world, with the possible exception of Otzi the Iceman. The most recent studies of Tutankhamun using sophisticated CT scans have shown that his body is no longer intact or even complete.

The first study took place in 1925, very soon after he was discovered. In their eagerness to see Tutankhamun himself, the anatomists who studied him forcibly removed him from his coffin as he was stuck to it with resin. The rough handling separated his limbs and head from his torso.

Tutankhamun is the only known royal mummy to remain in his tomb in Egypt. At some point, possibly during the second world war, his tomb was again entered by an unknown person or people. Some of Tutankhamun’s ribs were cut and removed in the search for amulets or jewellery.

Science has helped us understand more about Tutankhamun’s health, life and preparation for the afterlife. His legacy is not just a study of his personal life. It is a record of how science fuels our fascination with the boy king.

Jenefer Metcalfe, Lecturer in Biomedical Egyptology, University of Manchester

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Shocking truth behind Takabuti’s death revealed

Mon, 27 Jan 2020 11:00:00 +0000

Takabuti, the famous ancient Egyptian mummy on display at the Ulster Museum, suffered a violent death from a knife attack, a team of experts from National Museums NI, University of Manchester, Queen’s University Belfast and Kingsbridge Private Hospital have revealed.

The team, whose findings are made public on the 185 year anniversary of Takabuti’s unwrapping in 1835, also show that her DNA is more genetically similar to Europeans rather than modern Egyptian populations.

The team show Takabuti had an extra tooth - 33 instead of 32 - something which only occurs in 0.02% of the population.

And Takabuti’s heart, previously thought to have been missing, was identified by the state of the art technology used by the researchers as intact and perfectly preserved.

The scans show she was stabbed in the upper back near her left shoulder and that it was the cause of her death.

The findings finally solve the mystery of the mummy which has intrigued Egyptologists - and the public - since she was first unwrapped in Belfast in 1835. It transforms our understanding of Takabuti’s life in ancient Egypt and her journey into the afterlife.

The project was supported by funding from Friends of the Ulster Museum. Kingsbridge Private Hospital facilitated the work by providing their expertise and use of a portable x-ray machine to aid sampling for DNA work.

According to the team, the mysterious object in her body cavity, previously thought to be her heart, was in fact material used to pack the knife wound.

Takabuti lived over 2,600 years ago and died in her 20s. Experts say she was probably a married woman because she was a leading woman living - or mistress – who lived in a Thebes house - where Luxor is today.

She was acquired in Thebes by Thomas Greg from Holywood, County Down and brought to Belfast in 1834.

The scientific team consisted of Professor Rosalie David, Drs Bart van Dongen, Konstantina Drosou, Sharon Fraser, Professor Tony Freemont, Ds Roger Forshaw, Robert Loynes and Keith White from The University of Manchester

It also included Professors Eileen Murphy and Paula Reimar from Belfast University; Professor Caroline Wilkinson and Dr Sarah Shrimpton from Liverpool John Moores University; and Dr David Tosh from the Ulster Museum.

Dr Greer Ramsey, Curator of Archaeology at National Museums NI, says advances in scientific techniques have made the new findings possible.

He said: “There is a rich history of testing Takabuti since she was first unwrapped in Belfast in 1835. But in recent years she has undergone x-rays, CT scans, hair analysis and radio carbon dating. The latest tests include DNA analysis and further interpretations of CT scans which provides us with new and much more detailed information.

“The significance of confirming Takabuti’s heart is present cannot be underestimated as in ancient Egypt this organ was removed in the afterlife and weighed to decide whether or not the person had led a good life. If it was too heavy it was eaten by the demon Ammit and your journey to the afterlife would fail.”

The tests and examination of Takabuti were carried out over a period of months by the team using the latest scanning technologies, leading to new insights into Egyptian high society in the 25^th dynasty.

Professor Rosalie David, an Egyptologist from The University of Manchester said: “This study adds to our understanding of not only Takabuti, but also wider historical context of the times in which she lived: the surprising and important discovery of her European heritage throws some fascinating light on a significant turning-point in Egypt’s history.

“This study, which used cutting-edge scientific analysis of an ancient Egyptian mummy - demonstrates how new information can be revealed thousands of years after a person’s death. Our team - drawn from institutions and specialisms – was in a unique position to provide the necessary expertise and technology for such a wide-ranging study.”

Professor Eileen Murphy, a Bioarchaeologist from Queen’s University Belfast’s School of Natural and Built Environment, said: “It has been an incredible privilege to have been involved in modern research that has really helped enlighten us about Takabuti’s life and death. The latest research programme has provided some astounding results. It is frequently commented that she looks very peaceful lying within her coffin but now we know that her final moments were anything but and that she died at the hand of another.

“Trawling the historical records about her early days in Belfast it is clear that she caused quite a media sensation in 1835 – she had a poem written about her, a painting was made of her prior to her ‘unrolling’ and accounts of her unwrapping were carried in newspapers across Ireland. Research undertaken ten years ago gave us some fascinating insights, such as how her auburn hair was deliberately curled and styled. This must have been a very important part of her identity as she spurned the typical shaven-headed style. Looking at all of these facts, we start to get a sense of the petite young woman and not just the mummy.”

Retired Orthopaedic Surgeon and currently honorary lecturer in the University of Manchester's KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology, Dr Robert Loynes who performed the CT analysis and biopsy retrieval of material for a DNA and other analyses said: “The CT scan reveals that Takabuti sustained a severe wound to the back of her upper left chest wall. This almost certainly caused her rapid death. However, the CT scan also reveals unusual and rare features of her embalming process.”

Geneticist Dr Konstantina Drosou said “Takabuti’s genetic footprint H4a1 is relatively rare as it has not been found to my knowledge in any ancient or modern Egyptian population. My results agree with previous studies about ancient Egyptians being more genetically similar to Europeans than modern day Arabs.”

A book is currently being produced by the project team and supported by the Engaged Research Fund, Queen’s University Belfast, and the KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology, The University of Manchester. The book will bring together all of the research findings to date on Takabuti.

Details of the new findings can be found in the Ancient Egypt gallery in the Ulster Museum where Takabuti is currently on display. Admission is free.

Rome’s Flaminian Obelisk: an epic journey from divine Egyptian symbol to tourist attraction

Thu, 03 May 2018 16:41:07 +0100

Nicky Nielsen, University of Manchester

It’s a great place to sit in the shade and enjoy a gelato. The base of the Flaminian Obelisk in the Piazza del Popolo on the northern end of Rome’s ancient quarter offers views of the twin churches of Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria di Montesanto. But while enjoying the outlook, take a few minutes to marvel at how this 23-metre chunk of granite ended up where it has.

The Flaminian Obelisk was carved at the height of Egypt’s New Kingdom, during the reign of Seti I (1290 to 1279 BCE), the father of Ramesses the Great. “Carved” is a rather clinical expression for an astounding feat of engineering. Quarrying and moving a 263-ton chunk of granite – with the additional issue of not having access to any metal harder than bronze – is no mean feat.

The process used by the Egyptians was surprisingly straightforward. Initially, they levelled off the ground above a vein of granite. Then the rough shape of the obelisk was marked using hard stone pounders. Channels were carved in the rock around the shape of the obelisk before it was separated from the bedrock entirely by carving under its bulk.

Afterwards, the obelisk was shipped on barges nearly 900km north to the Temple of Heliopolis near modern Cairo and dedicated to the sun god Re-Horakhty – and of course to the memory of both Seti and Ramesses.

Egypt in vogue

Though much of our current obsessive cultural interest in ancient Egypt can be traced to key events such as the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, other cultures at other times in history have had an equal interest in the land of the Pharaohs – and a similar penchant for creatively misrepresenting it.

Villa Adriana: Hadrian’s Egyptian-style pleasure palace. Zh0rz via Dutch Wikipedia, CC BY-SA

At the height of the Roman Empire, “Egyptianising” architectural elements became very popular. Sites such as the Villa Adriana in Tivoli, built in the second century CE as a retreat for Emperor Hadrian, is positively lousy with Egyptianised statues and architectural elements – including an Egyptian-style shrine dedicated to the emperor’s lover, Antinous.

While these imitations of Egyptian styles and fashions (creatively altered for a Roman audience) were extremely popular, several Roman rulers went a step further. Rather than simply imitating Egyptian architecture, they brought some home with them from Egypt.

After the defeat of Cleopatra and Mark Anthony in 30 BCE, the first Roman emperor, Augustus Caesar, set his sights on the Flaminian Obelisk which had remained for more than 1,200 years at Heliopolis. To commemorate his comprehensive victory, Augustus opted to bring the obelisk back to Rome on a specially designed vessel, which was later destroyed in a fire in Puteoli.

Upon its arrival in Rome, Augustus added a Latin inscription underneath the far older hieroglyphs of the obelisk, extolling his own triumphs as the new ruler of Egypt. To show off his achievement, he ordered the obelisk raised at Circus Maximus.

As Christianity rose to prominence and became the official state religion of the Roman Empire, the arena fell into decay and flooding eventually toppled the obelisk. It was gradually buried in alluvial soil, lying undiscovered for nearly 1,000 years until it was unearthed at the height of the Italian Renaissance in 1587.

Renaissance renewal

A product of the Italian Renaissance, Pope Sixtus V (1521-1590) embarked on a wide-ranging programme of urban renewal in Rome shortly after his election to the Papal Throne. Ironically, while he is credited with reerecting no less than four ancient obelisks in Rome, he had very little appreciation for the city’s own antiquity, ordering several ancient monuments demolished and the stone reused as building material.

When the Flaminian Obelisk was rediscovered in 1587, Sixtus charged the noted architect Domenico Fontana (1543-1607) with the task of raising the monolith in Piazza del Popolo (at that time a place of public executions), a task which he accomplished in 1589. Fontana was experienced in the art of raising obelisks – three years earlier, he had been responsible for placing the Vatican obelisk (which is heavier than the Flaminian obelisk by nearly 100 tons) in St Peter’s Square. In an attempt to detract from the quite obvious pagan nature of the monuments, both were crowned with large crosses.

View of the Piazza del Popolo, Rome by Gaspar van Wittel (c. 1678) showing the Flaminian Obelisk and the surrounding square. Author provided

With this, the journey of the Flaminian Obelisk from an ancient Egyptian tribute to the sun god to a Renaissance curio was completed. But the monument’s impact on history continued – in 1921, a year before seizing power after the March on Rome, Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) led a march past the obelisk during the Third Fascist Congress. Later on, the Flaminian Obelisk and the many other Egyptian and Roman obelisks found throughout the city prompted the dictator to create his own: a massive 300-ton concrete behemoth which still stands in Foro Italico (then Foro Mussolini) bearing the Latin inscription MVSSOLINI DVX (Mussolini, the Leader).

The Flaminian Obelisk is a multicultural monument in many ways. It remains today in its square, a physical testament to the grandiose ideas of three rulers – each in their own way both secular and divine: Pharaoh Seti I, Emperor Augustus Caesar and Pope Sixtus V.

Nicky Nielsen, Lecturer in Egyptology, University of Manchester

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

New evidence shows might of Pharaoh Ramses is fake news

Mon, 29 Jan 2018 16:03:42 +0000

Archaeological evidence from an Egyptian excavation 200 miles east of the Libyan border has helped bust the fearsome reputation of one of the country’s most famous pharaohs.

Dr Nicky Nielsen, from The University of Manchester, says the Egyptians who lived in the late Bronze Age fortress at of Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham were at peace with their Libyan neighbours.

Dr Nielsen’s findings - published in the journal Antiquity – contradict the commonly held view that Ramses the Great was waging - and winning- fierce war with his neighbours, in Libya, Nubia and the Near East.

The excavation is directed by Dr Steven Snape, from the University of Liverpool.

The evidence- which included3,300-year-old sickle blades, handstones, querns and cow bones - showed the Egyptians harvested crops and raised cattle herds up to 8km away from the protection of the fort, located deep in Libyan territory.

According to Dr Nielsen, the finding adds to the body of evidence that Ramses had limited pedigree as a soldier.

Ramses’ famous monuments heralding his prowess as a warrior were nothing more than ancient propaganda, says Dr Nielsen.

“This evidence demonstrates the degree to which the Egyptian occupants of Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham relied on local Libyans not just for trade, but also for their knowledge of the local environment and effective farming methods,” he said.

“It is another strong indication that the widely held belief that Ramses was one of history’s greatest generals – is completely wrong.

“How on earth could Ramses have been fiercely at war with Libyan nomads- when his soldiers were living in peace with them deep in their territory? It just doesn’t add up.

“In fact, the most significant battle Ramses ever fought was at Kadesh: though one of the most famous in the ancient world –it was disastrously executed by the pharaoh.”

According to Dr Nielsen, the Hittites - the Egyptians’ foes- tricked the young king into fighting them, which led him to impetuously imperil a division of his army.

It was only when the three other divisions of his army eventually rescued him was he able to escape, but with no territory gained. In fact he lost control of a great part of modern-day Syria after the battle.

He added: “When you realise that Ramses re-inscribed monuments dedicated to others – so that it appeared they were celebrating his achievements, you realise what a peddler of fake news he was.

“His name was often carved so deeply, it was impossible to remove it – thus preserving his legacy.

“And as he fathered 162 children and ruled Egypt for 69 years, his propaganda had plenty of opportunity to take root.”

Dr Nielsen - along with his fellow Egyptologist Dr Joyce Tyldesley - lectures on the broad suite of online Egyptology courses offered by The University of Manchester.

The Certificate and the Diploma in Egyptology remain the only University accredited online courses in Egyptology in the world.

Nefertiti was no pharaoh, says renowned Egyptologist

Mon, 22 Jan 2018 16:00:00 +0000

Contrary to popular opinion, one of the most famous women in ancient history did not rule Egypt, according to a new book.

Dr Joyce Tyldesley, an Egyptologist from The University of Manchester, says Queen Nefertiti was just one of a series of powerful queens who played an influential role in Egyptian history.

It was, argues Dr Tyldesley, the beauty of her famous limestone and plaster sculpture - reportedly Hitler’s favourite piece of ancient art - which propelled her into the public spotlight after it was put on public display in 1923.

It was then that Egyptologists began – wrongly says Dr Tyldesley - to argue that she was unusually powerful, and maybe even that she ruled Egypt.

The book - Nefertiti's Face: the Creation of an Icon, published by Profile Books next week (25 January) – tells the story of the famous sculpture from its creation to its display today in Berlin.

The bust of the Queen – who was married to the Pharaoh king Akhenaten – was found in 1912 by German excavator Ludwig Borchardt in an ancient workshop which was once part of a house and studio complex belonging to the sculptor Thutmose

It is now on kept at the Neues Museum in Berlin, though Egypt has requested its return.

The missing left eye probably fell out while Borchardt’s team was excavating it, says Dr Tyldesley.

Dr Tyldesley said: “Though most people and many Egyptologists believe Nefertiti was an unusually powerful royal woman, and possibly even a pharaoh, I believe this was not the case.

“He husband Akhenaten died around 1336 BC; Tutankhamun - who was possibly Nefertiti’s son - became pharaoh in approximately 1336 BC. It has been argued that Nefertiti ruled Egypt, filling in this gap and perhaps influencing the early reign of Tutankhamen.

“But she wasn’t born a royal, and for a non-royal woman to become king would have been unprecedented. Her daughter Meritaten, however, was indeed born a royal – and so is a more likely candidate for pharaoh, if anyone is.”

She added: “It’s quite easy to explain why the bust is so appealing and why it has made Nefertiti so famous today: it’s a beautiful work of art which seems to cast its spell on anyone who looks at it.

“Some have claimed it’s a fake but they are completely wrong. I have no doubt the object on display in Germany is the real thing; it’s truly remarkable.

“The sculpture’s admirers tend to see their own cultures and interests reflected in her image; Hitler, for example, presumably saw her as Aryan.

“Soon after it went on display in 1923, replica busts were made and circulated, in a sophisticated PR operation that has been going on ever since, helping to establish today’s cult.

“But just because she is Egypt’s most famous and powerful queen in our world does not mean she was Egypt’s famous and powerful queen in her world.”

Dr Tyldesley will be giving a free talk and launching the book on Thursday 25 January, 6pm at Manchester Museum. For more details, click here

Ancient DNA results end 4000 year old Egyptian mummy mystery in Manchester

Wed, 17 Jan 2018 01:00:00 +0000

Using ‘next generation’ DNA sequencing scientists have found that the famous ‘Two Brothers’ mummies of the Manchester Museum have different fathers so are, in fact, half-brothers.

The Two Brothers are the Museum’s oldest mummies and amongst the best-known human remains in its Egyptology collection. They are the mummies of two elite men - Khnum-nakht and Nakht-ankh – dating to around 1800 BC.

However, ever since their discovery in 1907 there has been some debate amongst Egyptologists whether the two were actually related at all. So, in 2015, ‘ancient DNA’ was extracted from their teeth to solve the mystery.

But how did the mystery start? The pair’s joint burial site, later dubbed The Tomb of The Two Brothers, was discovered at Deir Rifeh, a village 250 miles south of Cairo. They were found by Egyptian workmen directed by early 20^th century Egyptologists, Flinders Petrie and Ernest Mackay. Hieroglyphic inscriptions on the coffins indicated that both men were the sons of an unnamed local governor and had mothers with the same name, Khnum-aa. It was then the men became known as the Two Brothers.

When the complete contents of the tomb were shipped to Manchester in 1908 and the mummies of both men were unwrapped by the UK’s first professional female Egyptologist, Dr Margaret Murray. Her team concluded that the skeletal morphologies were quite different, suggesting an absence of family relationship. Based on contemporary inscriptional evidence, it was proposed that one of the Brothers was adopted.

Therefore, in 2015, the DNA was extracted from the teeth and, following hybridization capture of the mitochondrial and Y chromosome fractions, sequenced by a next generation method. Analysis showed that both Nakht-Ankh and Khnum-Nakht belonged to mitochondrial haplotype M1a1, suggesting a maternal relationship. The Y chromosome sequences were less complete but showed variations between the two mummies, indicating that Nakht-Ankh and Khnum-Nakht had different fathers, and were thus very likely to have been half-brothers.

Dr Konstantina Drosou, of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Manchester who conducted the DNA sequencing, said: “It was a long and exhausting journey to the results but we are finally here. I am very grateful we were able to add a small but very important piece to the big history puzzle and I am sure the brothers would be very proud of us. These moments are what make us believe in ancient DNA. ”

The study, which is being published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, is one of the first to successfully use the typing of both mitochondrial and Y chromosomal DNA in Egyptian mummies.

Dr Campbell Price, Curator of Egypt and Sudan at Manchester Museum, said: “The University of Manchester, and Manchester Museum in particular, has a long history of research on ancient Egyptian human remains. Our reconstructions will always be speculative to some extent but to be able to link these two men in this way is an exciting first.”

BBC Horizon: Egypt's dark secret

Mon, 11 May 2015 17:10:00 +0100

Up to 70 million creatures were wrapped and buried in underground catacombs
Many of the animal mummies are, in fact, empty

University of Manchester team helps to uncover the story behind 70 million animal mummies

A team from Manchester Museum and The University of Manchester features on tonight’s BBC Horizon programme entitled 70 Million Animal Mummies: Egypt's Dark Secret.

The programme, which airs at 9pm on BBC 2 (Monday 11 May), looks at the Egyptian practice of mummifying animals and reveals that up to 70 million creatures were wrapped and buried in underground catacombs.

A university team of radiographers and Egyptologists are filmed using the latest medical imaging technology to scan hundreds of animal mummies removed from Egypt during the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

Through their work, they discovered that many of the animal mummies are, in fact, empty.

Dr Lidija Mcknight, who led the team, said: "We always knew that not all animal mummies contained what we expected them to contain, but we found around a third don't contain any animal material at all - so no skeletal remains."

Dr McKnight’s team used a CT Scanner and X-ray machine, that would normally be used on children, to see beneath the wrappings without damaging the ancient specimens inside. Horizon joined them over three nights last Autumn and filmed around a dozen of the scans.

The work forms the basis of tonight’s documentary which explores the bizarre role animals played in ancient Egyptian belief.

The team scanned animal mummies including wading birds, falcons, cats, shrews and a five-foot long Nile crocodile. In one instance, a crocodile- shaped mummy was found to contain eight baby crocs carefully wrapped together. In another case, scans revealed that for thousands of years, an intricately crafted cat-shaped mummy , with tiny ears and a nose, in fact contained only a few pieces of cat bone.

Horizon - 70 Million Animal Mummies: Egypt's Dark Secret, will air on BBC 2 on Monday 11 May at 9pm.

Solved: riddle of ancient Nile kingdom’s longevity

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:00:00 +0100

Researchers have solved the riddle of how one of Africa’s greatest civilisations survived a catastrophic drought which wiped out other famous dynasties.

Geomorphologists and dating specialists from The Universities of Aberystwyth, Manchester, and Adelaide say that it was the River Nile which made life viable for the renowned Kerma kingdom, in what is now northern Sudan.

Kerma was the first Bronze Age kingdom in Africa outside Egypt.

Their analysis of three ancient river channels where the Nile once flowed shows, for the first time, that its floods weren’t too low or too high to sustain life between 2,500 BC and 1,500 BC, when Kerma flourished and was a major rival to its more famous neighbour downstream.

They also show that the thousand year civilisation came to end when the Nile’s flood levels were not high enough and a major channel system dried out - though an invasion by resurgent Egyptians was the final cause of Kerma’s demise.

Downstream in Egypt, a catastrophic 30 year drought 4,200 years ago, which produced low Nile floods, created chaos in the old kingdom for at least a century.

Other civilisations in the near east and Mesopotamia were also severely hit by this drought.

The team’s findings, funded by the Sudan Archaeological Research Society (SARS) and the Australian Research Council, are published in the journal ‘Geology’.

Professor Mark Macklin from The University of Aberystwyth said: “This work is the most comprehensive and robustly dated archaeological and palaeoenvironmental dataset yet compiled for the desert Nile.

“The relationship between climate change and the development of Old World riverine civilizations is poorly understood because inadequate dating control has hindered effective integration of archaeological, fluvial, and climate records.”

Professor Jamie Woodward from The University of Manchester said: “In Nubia four thousand years ago the Kerma people farmed what we might call the Goldilocks Nile: its floods were just large enough to support floodwater farming, but not so big as to cause damage to the riverside settlements.”

“It’s quite remarkable that the Kerma civilization was able to flourish, produce amazing craftsmanship and wealth, at a time when their Egyptian rivals to the North were struggling with environmental, social, and political strife.

“Until now we didn't understand why that was - but thanks to our field work in Sudan, this riddle has now been solved.”

The team used cutting edge geological dating methods to analyse the dried up channels; now 20 km from the today’s river course. It is the first time individual flood events on the desert Nile have been dated.

Using hundreds of deep irrigation pits dug by modern Sudanese farmers, Macklin and Woodward were able to observe the geological history of the old channels. In places, these old channel belts are well preserved at the modern land surface. They are between 1 and 3 km wide with Kerma sites on their margins.

According to Derek Welsby from the British Museum who led the archaeological survey, Kerma’s wealth and power may have been underpinned by its agriculturally-rich hinterland utilising the banks of the ancient channels.

Archaeological surveys of the floodplain in the Dongola Reach to the south of Kerma have discovered more than 450 sites spanning the Neolithic (pre–3500 B.C.) to the Medieval Christian period (A.D. 500–1500). Many sites are associated with the Nile’s ancient channels.

He said: “Kerma’s success was also down to their reliance on animal husbandry practices that are less susceptible to changes in flood level, more mobile, and better able to cope with environmental stress.

“They were a truly remarkable civilisation, producing some of the most exquisite pottery in the Nile Valley.”

This pioneering work on human settlement history and the channels of the desert Nile in northern Sudan is featured in the new Ancient Worlds Galleries at the Manchester Museum.

Notes for editors

The team is:
Professor Mark Macklin, Aberystwyth University
Professor Jamie Woodward, University of Manchester
Dr Derek Welsby, The British Museum
Professor Geoff Duller, Aberystwyth University
Dr Frances Williams, University of Adelaide,
Professor Martin Williams, University of Adelaide

The paper, Reach-scale river dynamics moderate the impact of rapid Holocene climate change on floodwater farming in the desert Nile, published in Geology is available

Professor Macklin (Aberystwyth) is available for interview
Professor Woodward (Manchester) is available for interview
Derek Welsby (The British Museum) is available for interview

For media enquiries contact:
Mike Addelman
Press Officer
Faculty of Humanities
The University of Manchester
0161 275 0790
07717 881567
Michael.addelman@manchester.ac.uk

Manchester expert helps with pharaoh DNA analysis

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 01:00:00 +0100

Preliminary results from DNA tests carried out on a mummy believed to be Queen Hatshepsut is expected to support the claim by Egyptian authorities that the remains are indeed those of Egypt's most powerful female ruler.

Egyptologists in Cairo announced last month that a tooth found in a wooden box associated with Hatshepsut exactly fitted the jaw socket and broken root of the unidentified mummy.

Now, Dr Angelique Corthals, a biomedical Egyptologist at The University of Manchester, says that DNA tests she helped carry out with colleagues at the National Research Centre in Cairo have promising preliminary results suggesting the identity of the queen.

Dr Corthals, who is based at Manchester's KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology, advised and trained a team led by Dr Yehia Gad in Egypt in techniques of extracting DNA samples from the mummified remains of the mystery female.

The group then compared the DNA samples with those taken from Hatshepsut's royal relatives - her grandmother Ahmose Nefertari, the matriarch of 18th dynasty royalty, and her father Thutmose I.

"The difficulty in carrying out DNA testing on the royal mummies resides in the many times the remains have been handled as well as the chemical processes of mummification," said Dr Corthals.

"Ironically, the chemicals that preserve the appearance of the mummies actually damage their DNA but the team was able to extract small amounts of genetic information from the areas of the mummies least affected by contamination.

"When the DNA of the mystery mummy was compared with that of Hatshepsut's ancestors, we were able to scientifically confirm that the remains were those of the 18th dynasty queen."

Hatshepsut, meaning 'Foremost of Noble Ladies', was Egypt's greatest female ruler, having greater power than even Cleopatra. The fifth pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, her reign in the 15th century BC was longer than any other female ruler of an indigenous dynasty

Most of the 18th dynasty royal mummies were moved away from their original tombs in the Valley of the Kings by the priests of the 21st dynasty fearing desecration and tomb robberies.

The cache was discovered in the 1870s by the Razzul brothers and, in 1881, all 40 mummies were moved to Cairo. However, Hatshepsut's remains appeared to be missing and it was feared the mummy was lost, having been moved by her stepson Thutmose III, who - on succession - tried to destroy every trace of her reign.

However, in 1903, a British archaeologist, Howard Carter, excavated what became known as tomb KV60 and discovered two mummies - one in a coffin inscribed for a royal nurse, the other stretched out on the floor.

In June, Dr Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, held a news conference in Cairo to announce that this second mummy was that of the lost queen, pointing to the tooth as evidence.

The preliminary DNA evidence - to be included in a Discovery Channel documentary being broadcast in the UK tomorrow - suggests that the mummy is indeed the great queen Hatshepsut.

The team is now planning to carry out more tests on the 40 remaining royal mummies, including that of Tutankhamun, in order to resolve the many questions surrounding the genealogy of the 18th and 19th dynasties.

Further DNA testing is expected to help resolve such mysteries as the identity of the mummy of Tuthmosis I: Is it really the mummy of the mighty warrior-king of the 18th dynasty or just the remains of a nobleman? And were the two foetuses found in Tutankhamun's tomb really the children of the young pharaoh?

Ends

Notes for editors:

'Secrets of Egypt's Lost Queen' will be broadcast on the Discovery Channel in the UK on Tuesday, July 17.

For further information contact:

Aeron Haworth
Media Officer
Faculty of Life Sciences
The University of Manchester

Tel: +44 (0)161 275 8383
Mob: +44 (0)7717 881563
Email: aeron.haworth@manchester.ac.uk