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Mystery of Tut's Father

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Davita
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« on: July 22, 2007, 12:27:34 am »

Mystery of Tut's Father: New Clues on Unidentified Mummy

Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News

July 10, 2007
Egyptologists have uncovered new evidence that bolsters the controversial theory that a mysterious mummy is the corpse of the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten, husband of Nefertiti and, some experts believe, the father of King Tut.

The mummy's identity has generated fierce debate ever since its discovery in 1907 in tomb KV 55, located less than 100 feet (30 meters) from King Tutankhamun's then hidden burial chamber.

So an international team of researchers led by Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, used a CT scanner to peer inside the body and those of several other Valley of the Kings mummies. (The expedition was partially funded by the National Geographic Society, which owns National Geographic News.)

The scan revealed a number of striking physical similarities between the mystery mummy and the body of Tut, including a distinctive egg-shaped skull. (Related photo gallery: King Tut's New Face.)

"CT technology virtually unwraps the mummies without damaging them," explained Hawass, who is also a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, in a press release.

"They reveal everything, including information about age and disease."

A CT machine produces some 1,500 cross-sectional "slice" images for each body. When put together they reproduce the entire body in three dimensions.

Heretic Pharaoh

Akhenaten, a powerful mid-14th century B.C. pharaoh also known as Amenhotep IV or Amenophis IV, had a heretical devotion to Egypt's sun god.

He decreed that Aten, the divine embodiment of the sun's life-giving warmth, was Egypt's one true god and that the pharaoh was the earthly incarnation through which Aten must be worshiped.

Akhenaten banned ancient festivals and closed temples that had honored other deities for centuries. He also founded a new capital city, Akhetaten (now Amarna), to honor Aten and break from the past.


http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/07/070710-king-tut.html
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Davita
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« Reply #1 on: July 22, 2007, 12:29:27 am »



New CT scans have revealed that a mystery mummy (top left and right) found near King Tut's resting place shares many unusual features with the boy pharaoh (bottom left and right), such as a distinctive, egg-shaped skull, slight spinal scoliosis, impacted wisdom teeth, a similarly cleft palate, and identical jaw and cheekbones.

The team says the findings bolster the controversial theory that the mystery mummy is Akhenaten—one of ancient Egypt's most influential kings, Nefertiti's husband, and, some scholars believe, Tut's father.

Photograph by Brando Quilici/National Geographic Television
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Davita
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« Reply #2 on: July 22, 2007, 12:32:24 am »

But the radical new religion came crashing down with Akhenaten's death. Aten's temples were razed and Egyptians once more worshiped a full pantheon of favored gods.

The Amarna era ended with the disappearance of the royal family's mummies, leaving an enduring mystery for scholars.


"There are probably as many theories about what's going on in the Amarna period as there are Egyptologists who have taken an interest in that period," said Aidan Dodson, an archaeologist at the University of Bristol in England.

The newly scanned mummy's tomb held some clues, however.

The face and cartouche, or nameplate, of the mummy's coffin had been hacked out. But traces of gold leaf, along with hieroglyphics surrounding the cartouche, hinted over the years that the body might belong to the heretical leader.

"I think the alteration of the coffin in KV 55 suggests it must be a male member of the Amarna royal family and most likely Akhenaten," said Peter Lacovara, an archaeologist for the Amarna Royal Tombs Project, which is affiliated with England's Durham University.

New Evidence

The CT scan supports the idea that the mummy is Akhenaten by revealing it as a male between the ages of 25 and 40 who shares many physical similarities with Tut—assuming Akhenaten was Tut's father, as some experts believe.

The mystery mummy's strange elongated, egg-shaped skull, called dolichocephalic, is strikingly similar to Tutankhamun's.

The jaw, cheekbones, cleft palate, impacted wisdom teeth, and slight scoliosis of the spine are all also similar to Tut's—suggesting familiar traits that may have been passed on from father to son.

"[This] means we can say now the mummy in KV 55, based on this evidence, and based on the age, and based on the inscriptions written in the coffin, that this could be the mummy of Akhenaten," Hawass told the National Geographic Channel.

But the mummy could also be one of several other people—including another mysterious member of Tut's family—Hawass cautioned.

Dodson, of the University of Bristol, said, "I still think that the mummy is that of Smenkhkare—who was probably either the brother or son of Akhenaten and thus will have shared many of his features."

"Akhenaten may have been buried at one time in KV 55—'magic bricks' [denoting a royal tomb] in his name were found—but the mummy was probably later removed and destroyed. I do not believe that there will ever be 100 percent agreement about this particular mummy."

Even ascertaining the family trees of ancient Egypt's dynasties can be difficult, Dodson added.

"The concept of a royal family recording who was the son of whom just didn't happen," Dodson said.

"There's virtually no example of [recorded evidence for] a king being the son of his predecessor until the 19th dynasty [around 1290 B.C.]. Until then the royal sons are hardly ever mentioned on monuments at all."

No Clues on Nefertiti

The research expedition originally centered on Akhenaten's better-known wife—Nefertiti. But her whereabouts remain unknown, the team says.

Two female mummies found together just a few hundred feet from King Tutankhamun's burial chamber have been the focus of endless speculation.

At various times both corpses, known as the "Younger Lady" and the "Elder Lady," have been identified as the queen—but none of these assertions has proved conclusive.

CT scans revealed critical new information about these mummies, including the women's ages at death, their history of childbirth, the nature of wounds, important piercings, and the original positions of their arms—a key indicator of royal status.

The cumulative evidence led Hawass's team to conclude that neither is Nefertiti.

"The [Younger Lady] mummy that everyone thought is Nefertiti, it is not Nefertiti," he told the National Geographic Channel. "We gave the proof for that."

The Elder Lady may be the powerful Queen Tiye, Akhenaten's mother, while the Younger Lady might possibly be his secondary wife Kiya—the likely mother of King Tutankhamun—the researchers say. (Related: "Egypt's Female Pharaoh Revealed by Chipped Tooth, Experts Say" [June 27, 2007].)

DNA evidence is probably the only way to provide definitive identifications, but it may be impossible to acquire after so many years.

So Nefertiti may remain lost forever, said Lacorva, of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project.

"Barring any significant discovery, such as her burial, which is unlikely," he said, "we may never know the truth."

A one-hour special on the mummy investigation, Nefertiti and the Lost Dynasty, will air on the National Geographic Channel Monday, July 16, at 9 p.m.


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Bianca
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« Reply #3 on: July 23, 2007, 06:25:09 pm »




Hi, Davita,

The special was on last week, I think and late last night I caught the last five minutes of the
rerun.  Someone put up an alert, but I read it a couple of days late.

The stupid TV guide from our local paper does not list National Geographic.  But I am sure it
will be rerun again and again and some people may alert us - again.

Love and Peace,
b
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« Reply #4 on: July 24, 2007, 10:34:11 am »

Quote
The CT scan supports the idea that the mummy is Akhenaten by revealing it as a male between the ages of 25 and 40 who shares many physical similarities with Tut—assuming Akhenaten was Tut's father, as some experts believe.


The Urantia Book -- Part III. The History Of Urantia
PAPER 95: Section 5.
The Remarkable Ikhnaton

The son-in-law of Ikhnaton went along with the priests, back to the worship of the old gods, changing his name to Tutankhamen. The capital returned to Thebes, and the priests waxed fat upon the land, eventually gaining possession of one seventh of all Egypt; and presently one of this same order of priests made bold to seize the crown.


http://urantiabook.org/newbook/ub/ppr095_5.html#P095_5_10
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Davita
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« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2007, 01:07:43 am »

Bianca,

Stupid TV Guide may not have National Geographic, but my stupid TV doies not even have National Geographic!

I will check site later and inform you if I see it on again.

Tut may have gone back to worship of old gods, but one wonders whether that was his idea, or was forced! 
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Bianca
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« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2007, 06:56:45 am »





Well Davita, Tut being about nine years old at the time would hardly have been able to make the

choice.  Someone must have done it for him.

Here is an article I ran into a couple of days ago, which I included in the Akhenaten thread:






                              TUTANKHAMUN ON EGYPT'S THRONE AS A RESULT OF A MILITARY COUP




By Ahmed Osman



Recent archaeological evidence indicates that Tutankhamun came to the throne as a result of a military coup. A scene on the wall on the tomb of Maia, the young king's nanny, discovered recently in Saqqara by the French mission, included the five army generals who are believed to have led the coup.


In my book Moses Pharaoh of Egypt, published in 1990, I suggested that Akhenaten did not die at the end of his 17-year reign, but was forced to abdicate the throne by an army coup. Pharaoh Akhenaten, one of the 18th dynasty kings who ruled Egypt for 17 years in the mid-14th century BC, abolished the old Egyptian gods in favor of a new monotheistic God, Aten, whose worship the king wanted to force upon his people. Akhenaten relied completely on the army's support in his confrontation with the old priesthood. Although he never took part in any war, the king is shown, in the vast majority of representations, wearing the Blue Crown or the short Nubian wig, both belonging to his military headdress, rather than the traditional ceremonial crowns of the Two Lands. Scenes of soldiers and military activity abound in both the private and royal art of Amarna. If we may take the reliefs from the tombs of the nobles at face value, then his capital city was virtually an armed camp. Everywhere we see parades and processions of soldiers, infantry, and chariotry with their massed standards. There are soldiers under arms standing guard in front of the palaces, the temples, and in the watchtowers that bordered the city; scenes of troops, unarmed or equipped with staves, carrying out combat exercises in the presence of the king.

The army, loyal to the throne, carried out the will of the king without questioning. The position of Aye, Akhenaten's maternal uncle, as the Commander General of the army, assured its loyalty to the ruling dynasty. Aye held posts among the highest in the infantry and the chariotry, together with Nakht Min, another general related to him. It was the loyalty of the army, controlled by Aye, which kept Akhenaten in power in the uneasy years following his coming to the throne as sole ruler (upon the death of his father) in his 12th year. By that time Akhenaten had developed his monotheistic ideas to a great extent. If Aten was the only God, Akhenaten, as his sole son and prophet, could not allow other gods to be worshipped at the same time in his dominion. As a response to his rejection by the Amun priests as a legitimate ruler, he had already snubbed Amun and abolished his name from the walls and inscriptions of temples and tombs. Now he took his ideas to their logical conclusion by abolishing, throughout Egypt, the worship of any gods except Aten. He closed all the temples, except those of Aten, confiscated their lands, dispersed the priests and gave orders that the names of all deities should be expunged from monuments and temple inscriptions throughout the country. Army units were dispatched to excise the names of the ancient gods wherever they were found written or carved.

At least two events early in Akhenaten's co-regency with his father Amenhotep III indicated strong opposition to his rule. The graffiti of Amenhotep III's 30th year from the pyramid temple of Meidum, which would be year 3 of Akhenaten, pointed to a rejection by some powerful factions of the king's decision to cause 'the male to sit upon the seat of his father.' Again, the border stele inscription of Amarna shows that, before deciding to leave Thebes and build his new city, Akhenaten had encountered some strong opposition and had been the subject of verbal criticism. Certainly, he would not have left the dynasty's capital without having been forced to do so. The final confrontation between the throne and the priesthood was postponed simply because after he departed from Thebes, Akhenaten had nothing at all to do with the running of the country, which was left to his father, Amenhotep III. Another important factor was the complete reliance of Akhenaten on the armed forces for support. If we may take the reliefs from the tombs of the nobles at face value, then the city was virtually an armed camp. Everywhere we see processions and parades of soldiers, infantry and chariotry with their massed standards. Palaces, temples and the city borders seem to have been constantly guarded.

The persecution of Amun and the other gods, which must have been exceedingly hateful to the majority of the Egyptians, was also hateful to the individual members of the army. This persecution, which entailed the closing of the temples, the dispatch of artisans to hack out his name from inscriptions, the banishment of the clergy, the excommunication of his very name, could not have been carried out without the army's active support. As the army shares the same religious beliefs as the people, it is natural that the officers would not feel very happy with the job they were doing. Thus a conflict appeared between the army's loyalty to the king and its loyalty to the religious beliefs of the nation. Ultimately, the harshness of the persecution must have had a certain effect upon the soldiers, who themselves had been raised in the old beliefs.

Archaeological evidence to support this claim came in November 1997, when Dr Alain Zivie, a French archaeologist, announced in Cairo the discovery of a new tomb in Saqqara. In this ancient necropolis of the Royal City of Memphis, ten miles south of Cairo, Zivie uncovered the tomb of Maia, wet-nurse of Tutankhamun. The tomb, which extends 20 meters inside the mountain, was also used, from the beginning of the Macedonian Ptolemic period at the start of the 3rd century BC, for the burial of the sacred mummified cats of Bastet. When first found, the tomb was almost completely full of mummified cats, placed there more than a thousand years after the original burial. The joint team from the French Archaeological Mission and the Supreme Council for Egyptian Antiquities has excavated two of the three known chambers. On the wall of the first chamber is a scene depicting Maia protecting the King who is sitting on her knee. The inscriptions describe her as 'the Royal nanny who breast-fed the pharaoh's body.'

Alongside and to the left of Maia's seat are six officials representing Tutankhamun's Cabinet, two above and four below, each with different facial characteristics. Although none of the officials is named, Dr. Zivie was able to suggest their identities from their appearance and the sign of office they carry. He recognized the two above and behind Maia's seat as Aye and Horemheb. The four officials below were identified by Zivie as Pa-Ramses, Seti, Nakht Min, and Maya. Except for the last one, who is also called Maya the treasurer, the remaining five were all military generals of the Egyptian army, and four of them followed the king on the throne. This was the first time in Egyptian history that the Cabinet was composed, almost totally, of army generals, which supports my earlier view that Tutankhamun came to the throne as a result of a military coup. These generals could only have gained their positions in the cabinet, and later on the throne, as a result of a military coup.

The new evidence indicate that there must have been a kind of military move against Akhenaten, led by three army generals: Horemheb, Ramses, and Seti. Aye, the commander of the army, realized he could not crush the rebellion even with the help of General Nakht Min. When his attempt to persuade Akhenaten to allow the return of the old gods failed, he tried to save the royal dynasty by reaching a compromise with the leaders of the rebellion to allow the king to abdicate and be replaced by his son Tutankhamun. Tutankhamun left his father's capital of Amarna for Memphis in his fourth year, when a compromise was reached in which all ancient temples were reopened and worship restored. Nevertheless, Aten remained holding its supreme position, at least as far as the new king was concerned.

Aye, brother of Queen Tiye, Akhenaten's mother, is regarded as the military protector of the Amarna kings, and was responsible for the Chariots during the time of Akhenaten, while general Nakht Min is thought to have been his relative. Akhenaten used the army to destroy the old powerful priesthood and force his new monotheistic religion on his people. But the army, which shared the same old beliefs as the rest of the people, could not support the king to the end. It is clear that Akhenaten faced, in his 17th year, an army rebellion led by generals Horemheb, Pa-Ramses, and Seti. Aye, supported by General Nakht Min, not being in a position to crush the rebellion, made a deal with them to allow for the abdication of Akhenaten and the appointment of his son, Tutankhamun, as his successor. This would also explain how Aye, when he succeeded Tutankhamun on the throne, disappeared mysteriously, together with Nakht Min, after four years, while the three other generals rose to power. When Horemheb followed Aye as king, he appointed both Pa-Ramses and his son Seti as viziers and commanding generals of the army. They in turn succeeded him on the throne as Ramses I (who established the 19th dynasty) and Seti I.





AHMED OSMAN     www.ahmedosman.co.uk

Historian, lecturer, researcher and author, Ahmed Osman is a British Egyptologist born in Cairo.
« Last Edit: July 25, 2007, 07:05:03 am by Bianca2001 » Report Spam   Logged

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Bianca
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« Reply #7 on: August 06, 2007, 07:02:00 am »





Davita,

http://ngcblog.nationalgeographic.com/ngcblog/2007/07/ngc_most_amazing_moment_of_the_3.html

I found this on National Geographic TV.  It isn't much, it's just the intro.  The summation - in the
last 5 minutes that I caught, was very important to me:

It seems that they are under the impression that Tutankhamun gathered the mummies of his rela-
tives and took them with him back to the north.  It seems also that Nefertiti is NOT among them.

In MHO, Tut was Kiya's son and there may have been court intrigue (what else is new?) and he
certainly would have not taken with him his mother's rival, Nefertiti.

Human nature, hasn't changed much, has it?

Love and Peace,
b
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Davita
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« Reply #8 on: August 10, 2007, 12:56:49 am »

Bianca, it is hard for us to imagine what sort of court intrigue there was, all those years ago.  I think that these specials are basically just guessing.  What is the source for the details of the life of Tut, and how detailed is it? 

I think that Egyptologists fall into the habit of making up what they don't know because science hates to have a blak page, nor admit that it does not have answers..!
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« Reply #9 on: August 10, 2007, 08:05:55 am »





QUOTE:


In MHO, Tut was Kiya's son and there may have been court intrigue (what else is new?) and he
certainly would have not taken with him his mother's rival, Nefertiti.

Human nature, hasn't changed much, has it?

Love and Peace,
b

****************************************************************************


Davita:

I am just as critical of Archaeologists as anybody else, but in all fairness, the above opinion is my own,
deducted from my knowledge of the Akhenaten period and of the transfer of all these one-family
mummies to the north by Tutankhamun.

Love and Peace,
b
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« Reply #10 on: August 10, 2007, 12:31:37 pm »

My friend is working on a novel, about the reign of Hatsepshut, the queen who became pharoah, and about a concubine of her husbands who's son is the next pharoah through the murder of Hatsepshut.  Talk about intrigue! 
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