With the advent of tomography, CT scans, and DNA, very little is left private. The naked bodies of ancient kings lay for the most part in the lands where they lived, but some journeyed after their death. Leaving Egypt 140 years ago to house in a Niagara sideshow, the mummy was first thought to be none other than Nefertiti herself. Museum staff pulled down the covers from her mummy and discovered Nefertiti had a penis.
The high-quality mummification and remarkable preservation of the body; usually, these things are broken. The body smell of aromatics is distinctly royal. A carbon test suggested that the mummy might belong to the New Kingdom. With its crossed arms exposed, Egyptologists began going down the list of missing New Kingdom kings and came up with 3 consecutive kings from the end of the 18th dynasty to the first King of the 19th dynasty.
These were Aye, Horemheb, and Ramesses I. King Ramesses I was the father of King Seti I and grandfather to King Ramesses II, both of whose mummies' faces are beautifully preserved and resemble that of the hung Nefertiti, and so it was decided that no, this is not the old girl but rather it is King Ramesses I.
Since then, calibrations of carbon-14 readings have now shown the mummy is hundreds of years younger than that of King Ramesses I. In a previous story, I suggested it may actually be the mummy of the High Priest of Amen, Smendes III.
Michael C. Carlos Museum:
http://carlos.emory.edu/RAMESSES/
No comments:
Post a Comment