Is Hatshepsut still hiding?

DNA tests to study tiny mummies from King Tut tomb

This article is about the upcoming DNA testing on two infant mummies found in King Tutankhamun's tomb. But the part that interests me the most concerns Hatshepsut. I've blogged on the discovery of her body before ( here and here). The Discovery Channel special on the testing of unidentified mummies, in the quest to find Hatshepsut's remains, was certainly interesting. But there are now some problems. The media savvy Head of Egyptian Antiquities, Zahi Hawas has not exactly been forthcoming about his results:

...He has never disclosed the full outcome of the examinations of the mummy of Hatshepsut, Egypt's most powerful queen and the only female pharaoh. Nor has he submitted the results for a test by second lab, as it is a common practice. This has raised concerns about the validity of the Egyptian results...

In the last year, I've been reading of increasing concern in regards to the above. The thing is, even just a careful watching of the televised special reveals some concerns. First off, a great deal of the identification relies on a scan of a supposed tooth fragment imaged in an unopened canopic box. The box has been accurately attributed as containing the organs of Hatshepsut, and the mummy id'ed as her body is missing a tooth. But that seems rather flimsy evidence. (The box remains unopened, so we don't even know if the object is indeed a tooth.) In addition, Hatshepsut has always been portrayed as rather a petite woman. Yet this mummy is large and obese. In addition, a number of mummies from the Tuthmosis line have been accurately identified, all of them having rather similar facial appearances. Although a forensic match-up was provided in the documentary, the fact is, at least to my eyes, the faces don't really match up.

Egyptologist Cathleen Keller dies at age 62

Cathleen Keller was the co-creatrix of one of the best museum exhibits I have ever seen, "Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh.":

...Keller was one of three editors of "Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh." Published in 2005 in association with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the book offers an in-depth treatment of the controversial Hatshepsut, a female pharaoh who sometimes was depicted as male...When the M.H. de Young Museum in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park reopened in October 2005, it featured a crowd-pleasing exhibit on Hatshepsut. Keller developed the concept for "Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh" and was its co-curator. The exhibit also was featured at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Kimball Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas...

The book is still available (for a very reasonable price)from the Met.

Cathleen, may you become a star on the sky-dress of the Goddess Mut, where Hatshepsut awaits you.

Hatshepsut's Honor Guard

Spanish team unearths a unique find in Luxor on excavations in the necropolis of Ancient Thebes

Archeologists unearthed the tomb of a high ranking official from the Court of Queen Hatshepsut:

...A team led by a Spanish archaeologist has discovered the burial chamber of an Egyptian warrior who died four thousand years ago...the excavation site is at Dra’ Abu el-Naga, where the team’s investigations are centred on the tombs of Djehuty and Hery, two high-ranking dignitaries of the court of Hatshepsut...The tomb discovered in the necropolis is that of Iqer, whose name was found inscribed on the wooden coffin which contained his mummified body. His name means ‘the excellent,’...

Hatshepsut on TV!

Secrets of Egypt's Lost Queen

The discovery of Hatshepsut's mummy has been widely reported.
The Discovery Channel is presenting a special on this--check you local listings.

From the Discovery Channel's website:

...More powerful than Cleopatra or Nefertiti, Hatshepsut was Egypt's greatest female ruler. And then she disappeared. Egypt's preeminent archaeologist, Zahi Hawass, investigates several mummies that may well be the remains of this powerful queen...

It seems poor Hatshepsut was rather sickly toward the end of her life. It also appears she may have struck a rather Goth-like figure, with black & white fingernail polish, a receding hairline, with long red hair streaming down her.

(mummy pic: BBC)

Pharaohs, Queens, and Goddesses

Brooklyn Museum: Pharaohs, Queens, and Goddesses

March 23–September 16, 2007

A great long-term exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, featuring our darling Hatshepsut, at the newly opened Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art:

...This exhibition is the inaugural biographical gallery show of a series in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. Presented in tandem with The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago, the exhibition is dedicated to powerful female pharaohs, queens, and goddesses from Egyptian history. The central object of the exhibition is an important granite head from the Brooklyn Museum collection of Hatshepsut, the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty (1539–1292 b.c.), and one of the 39 women represented with a plate at The Dinner Party. Hatshepsut is featured alongside other women and goddesses from Egyptian history, including queens Cleopatra, Nefertiti, and Tiye and the goddesses Sakhmet, Mut, Neith, Wadjet, Bastet, Satis, and Nephthys...By incorporating multiple objects from the Museum's extraordinary Egyptian collection, the exhibition encourages viewers to make visual and historical connections with the Museum's long-term installation Egypt Reborn, which has additional objects on view pertaining to Pharaohs, Queens, and Goddesses.

Maat-Ka-Ra: Truth is the Genius of the Sun God

Guarding Egypt's past

As I've blogged before, it looks like the mummy of Hatshepsut, the princess who rose to queen, took on manly garb to become a Pharaoh (Son of Ra...), finally becoming a God/Goddess, has been found. Dr. Zahi Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt, has been coy about the announcement, milking it for all it's worth (frankly, who can blame him):

...Hawass prepares to unveil a number of new discoveries that are sure to shine a bright light on the darkest reaches of history going back 5,000 years...He'll announce that Egyptologists have found the long-lost mummy of Queen Hatshepsut, who ruled from 1473 B.C. and is among just a few women to assume the powerful role of pharaoh. He's reluctant to discuss details of the search, which has gone on for decades, other than to say that last year he ordered an examination of six unidentified female mummies in Cairo's renowned Egyptian Museum...Seems she's been right under his nose the whole time.

Dr. Hawass has a good website, including his research into Hatshepsut.

Tour Egypt also has a good article:

...Hatshepsut carried five royal names, three of which were never granted to any other queen, neither before or afterwards. These were the "Horus Name", "Golden Horus Name" and the "Two Ladies" (Upper and Lower Egypt). The name of "King of Upper and Lower Egypt," was used by other queens. "Son of Ra Known as Hatshepsut" or "Maat-Ka-Ra" (Truth is the genius of the Sun God), was bestowed upon her by Amon himself. Some princesses of the 17th dynasty have previously been named so. Both "Maat-Ka-Ra" and "Hatshepsut" were depicted inside a cartouche...

Sometimes depictions of the starry night graced the inside of coffin lids of royalty, so that in death, you would stare into the Cosmos. From Maatkara, here is the prayer to Nut (Goddess of the Sky) inside Hetshepsut's sarcophagus:

Oh my mother Nut, stretch thyself over me, that thou mayest place me among the imperishable stars which are in thee, and that I may not die.

Yes, Hetshepsut--you little androgynous mover and shaker--in many ways, you have not died. Your great monuments and works were not lost during the proscription (destruction and erasure of history instituted by Thutmose III). Your smashed statues were found and reassembled, your works properly credited. For many years, scholars thought those who would erase you had committed the final sacrilege, destroying your body. But now it seems your priests were loyal. Your journey through time continues.

Slaves of Hatshepsut

Sista Serpentine: Hatshepsut

Sista Serpentine said:

...Last night I had a dream that I was in a museum...When we came to this particular statue/throne/alter/whatever it was, I threw myself onto the floor, crying and prostrating myself in front of this thing... In love, fear, reverence...Suddenly the room went black, everyone disappeared and the statue suddenly stood up and revealed herself to me... It was Hatshepsut... She was telling me that I was her only servant and that I would always have her protection...

Hatshepsut--you BITCH! Those are the same lines you told me! I was suppose to be your only servant. I was to have your protection forever. I can't believe I fell for such lame pic-up lines. I feel so cheap and used. I'm sure all the Gods and Goddesses of Egypt now think I'm 'easy'! What next, my phone number chiseled in a burial chamber, "For a good time call..."?

Hatshepsut, who is this interloper, Sista Serpentine? Did she leave offerings at your feet in the museum like I did. Did she prostrate herself before you, showering your cold marble feet with kisses? Did she get kicked out of the museum by security, again again, and again?

Well, I suppose us mortals are always the last ones to find out. I guess all we can aspire to is being galley slaves in your solar barque:

Antiquity News from Egypt Magazine - February/March 2007

...Pottery dating to the early 18th Dynasty was found with the oars and they may have been used on ships of the Queen Hatshepsut's famous expedition to Punt, which is described in bas-relief inscriptions in her temple at Deir el-Bahri...

3,500 years after the her expedition to Punt, Hatshepsut's adventure is still making news. Myrrh, which Hatshepsut loved, was a major goal of the trip. There's a rumor going around that the mummy of "The Queen who became a God" has been identified. It seems there will soon be news about that.