Hatshepsut’s Story

Hastshepsut's Temple from above
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By Abigail

In ancient Egypt, there was once a queen called Hatshepsut. They knew about her first burial place, but there’s one thing they didn’t know: where Hatshepsut’s mummy was, presently. Nobody knew where she was. So, scientists decided to try to find her. Their first stop was Tomb 368 (or whatever it was). Earlier, scientists had found many mummies of pharaohs there, including the mummies of Tuthmosis II, III, and I. But one of the most interesting finds was Hatshepsut’s wet nurse. They had taken her to a museum, but there was also one more mummy in there. This was a female mummy who was unidentified, and scientists thought that this was a possibility for Hatshepsut. The next stop was the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Inside the temple
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There were two more unidentified mummies there, who had been nicknamed (1) the “screaming mummy”, because its mouth was open, so it looked like it was screaming; and (2) the “serene mummy”, because it had a look of calmness on its face. These two mummies, scientists thought, could also be Hatshepsut, because they were female and unidentified. After a few weeks of looking at the screaming mummy, they decided that it could not be Hatshepsut for a few reasons. They noticed that its arms were by its side, instead of having one or both crossed against its chest, which is the usual position for pharaohs. That was the only reason that I can remember, so I can’t tell you why else they decided that it was not Hatshepsut. So, let’s get on to the serene mummy. Also, after looking for a while at the serene mummy, they decided that it could not be Hatshepsut after all, either, and again, I don’t know the reason why. Now, they had one mummy: the “strong mummy” from Tomb 368, which they called strong because it looked strong. Also, scientists decided that they might want to look at Hatshepsut’s wet nurse, because they had no certain proof that this was the nurse, and not Hatshepsut. They looked both of them over, and found no proof that either of them could be Hatshepsut, and no proof that they couldn’t be. But, there’s only one way that they could decide. They decided to do a DNA test. They took the strong mummy, and after inserting a tiny needle into her hip, they inserted the needle into a machine. The machine took the DNA from the needle, and made a bigger portion of it. Then, they put it on the screen, to see what the results were. They were perfect. They had more than enough DNA to work with. The nurse’s was just as good. But, unfortunately, their luck went downhill from there. Hatshepsut’s father did not have any DNA that they were looking for.

Dan goes native
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There was only one thing to do now, and that is to go to Hatshepsut’s grandmother. She was the only other mummy that they had found from Hatshepsut’s family. (They had not found Tuthmosis III yet.) You might not know this, but each DNA test takes a few months, so they had a few months to wait for the results. They decided to look in a small box found with the strong mummy and the wet nurse in the tomb. This was the only object that they knew really belonged to Hatshepsut. So, of course, whatever was in there would have had to have been Hatshepsut’s. The box, which was thought to contain Hatshepsut’s liver, was right there at the Egyptian Museum, so they were able to take an x-ray of it. They were very lucky. The box not only had her liver, but also two other items: her intestine, and a tooth. This tooth was of course, the luckiest of all, because if they could find out if the tooth went into either of the mummies’ mouths, and if it fit, then they would know that it was the real Hastshepsut. So, using the images taken from the mummies, and the tooth, they were able to put the tooth in the exact spot so that they were able to tell that it fit perfectly into the strong mummy’s mouth. Of course, from then on, she was never know as the strong mummy, only as Hatshepsut.

Egypt Wrap-up

By Dan

Our time in Egypt is winding down. I think we all feel like we have hit a lot of classic highlights, gotten off the beaten path, and done a very adequate job of getting the feel of the place. After all, in addition to museums, pyramids, tombs, and monuments, we have ridden local buses, camped in the desert, done heavy negotiating with all manner of vendors, fended off touts offering everything from camels to cameras, and been through countless police checkpoints. Thursday night the 29^th, we will take the overnight train from Luxor to Cairo. After a full day in Cairo on the 30^th, we board a late night plane bound for Ethiopia. First stop, Addis Ababa. We really aren’t sure what we’ll find in Ethiopia, so don’t be alarmed if we are more incommunicado than sometimes. Eventually, we will surface!