Secrets of Egypt’s Lost Queen
Secrets of Egypt’s Lost Queen
In what is being called the most important find in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings since the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb, Discovery Channel’s Secrets of Egypt’s Lost Queen exclusively reveals archaeological, forensic and scientific evidence identifying a 3,000-year-old mummy as Hatshepsut, Egypt’s greatest female Pharaoh.
More powerful than Cleopatra or Nefertiti, Hatshepsut stole the throne from her young stepson, dressed herself as a man, and in an unprecedented move, declared herself Pharaoh. Though her power stretched across Egypt and her reign was prosperous, Hatshepsut’s legacy was systematically erased from Egyptian history — historical records were destroyed, monuments torn down and her corpse removed from her tomb.
The film follows a team of top forensic experts and archaeologists led by Dr. Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, as they use the full range of forensic technology to identify Hatshepsut.
The investigative journey of Dr. Hawass and his team led them through the massive crypts beneath Egypt and into the depths of the Cairo Museum. Using knowledge of royal Egyptian mummification and clues from two known tombs linked to Hatshepsut, the team narrowed their search for Hatshepsut to just four mummies from thousands of unidentified corpses.
Computed tomography (CT) scans allowed the scientists to link distinct physical traits of the Hatshepsut mummy to that of her ancestors. The search was further narrowed to two possibilities — both from the tomb of Hatshepsut’s nanny — but the final clue lay within a canopic box inscribed with the female Pharaoh’s name. A scan of the box found a tooth that, when measured, perfectly matched a missing upper molar in one of the two mummies.
“The discovery of the Hatshepsut mummy is one of the most important finds in the history of Egypt,” said Dr. Hawass. “Her reign during the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt was a prosperous one, yet mysteriously she was erased from Egyptian history. Our hope is that this mummy will help shed light on this mystery and on the mysterious nature of her death.”
Applied Biosystems and Discovery Quest, part of Discovery Channel’s initiative to support the scientific community’s work, funded the construction and equipment for the first-ever DNA testing facility located outside the Cairo Museum in Egypt for the program. The DNA testing facility will not only be used to extract and compare the mitochondrial DNA of the Hatshepsut mummy and mummies from her family, but will also be used by scientists to examine future finds in Egypt.
Dr. Zahi Hawass
Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities
Zahi Hawass currently serves as secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and director of excavations at Giza, Saqqara and the Bahariya Oasis.
Dr. Hawass is responsible for many recent discoveries in Egypt, including the tombs of the pyramid builders at Giza. He discovered the satellite pyramid of Khufu and revealed the secrets behind the so-called doors found inside the pyramid. He also excavated at Bahariya Oasis, where he discovered the Valley of the Golden Mummies. He also found the tombs of the governor of Bahariya and his family under the houses in the town of El-Bawiti. His excavations at Saqqara revealed many discoveries around the pyramid of Teti, such as the tomb of the physician Qar, and the rediscovery of the “headless pyramid.” He led an Egyptian team in the examination of the mystery of King Tut’s mummy through the use of a CT scan.
Hawass is extremely concerned about the conservation and protection of Egypt’s monuments. He has carried out a major conservation project on the Great Sphinx and developed management plans for a number of important sites, including the “unfinished obelisk” quarry in Aswan and the temples of Kom Ombo, Edfu and Dendera. Currently, he is completing plans for the West Bank of Luxor, Giza and Saqqara.
Dr. Hawass’ dynamic personality and extensive knowledge have sparked global interest in ancient Egypt. He has brought the world of the Pharaohs into the homes and hearts of people all over the world through his numerous television appearances and books for general audiences. Over the course of his long career, Dr. Hawass has received numerous awards and honors, including TIME Magazine’s “Top 100 Most Influential People” for the year 2005. Most recently, Dr. Hawass was instrumental in sending King Tutankhamun back to the United States.
Dr. Kara Cooney
Egyptologist
Egyptologist Dr. Kara Cooney has appeared on many television programs and talk shows discussing ancient Egypt. She is an authority on the ancient language of late Egyptian, particularly hieratic ostraca and papyri from the village of Deir el Medina. Visually, she specializes in coffins and funerary art of the Ramesside period.
During the summer of 2003, Cooney worked on the return of the King Tut exhibition to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, as well as researched a number of Egyptian pieces for inclusion in the Museum Loan Network database. She was also involved with the installation of the Cairo Museum exhibit “Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt,” which opened at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. (where she was the Samuel H. Kress fellow) in the summer of 2002.
Cooney is currently a postdoctoral teaching fellow at Stanford University and is revising her dissertation, “The Value of Private Funerary Art in Ramesside Period Egypt,” for publication. She is also working on a number of research interests, including the gender issues of death in ancient Egypt, craft specialization and funerary arts in the ancient world, the Nubian 25th Dynasty’s racial identity and political legitimating process, and the socioeconomic understanding of death rituals and associated material culture in ancient Egypt. She has taught courses at Howard University and UCLA in Egyptian religion, language, literature, art and archaeology.