Submitted by Pandora and Waspie Dwarf: Egyptologists say they have identified the 3,000-year-old mummy of Hatshepsut, Egypt's most powerful female ruler. Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass made the official announcement at a packed news conference in Cairo. It is being billed as the biggest archaeological find in Egypt since the 1922 discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb. Archaeologists hope the mummy, which has lain unrecognised for decades, will yield clues about the mystery of her death and subsequent disappearance. Mr Hawass has set up a DNA lab near the museum with an international team of scientists to verify the identification. The study was funded by the US television channel Discovery which is to broadcast a documentary on the subject in July. An important piece of the evidence is said to be that the mummy has a missing tooth, and the gap matches exactly an existing relic, a preserved tooth engraved with Hatshepsut's name.

Some archaeologists have expressed scepticism about the possibility of using DNA technology to identify the queen."It's a very difficult process to obtain DNA from a mummy," US molecular biologist Scott Woodward was quoted as saying by AP news agency. "To make a claim as to a relationship, you need other individuals from which you have obtained DNA, to make a comparison between the DNA sequences." DNA is the molecule that contains genetic information in all organisms and can be used to establish family relationships.

View: Full Article | Source: BBC News

She looked kind of extraterrestrialish.

She looks kind of dead to me.

You would look kind dead too if you where 3,000 years old. I think for her age she looks good. Just think how many grandkids she has running around, X-mass must be a pain.

That's was my first thought too. Her head is a weird shape. Did they used to bind heads or something? Even if they did I don't think they could shape it like that. I'm going with ET.
Adding: her neck is thin too. You'd think it would be larger to support that oversized head.

I think she looks extremely well preserved for her age... maybe some wrinkle cream or something would help some though... and she needs to get some meat on those bones!

JS

She's a mix

Thanks for the news, very interesting

What's with this seeming inherent need to dig up ancient corpses from their tombs and put them on display for fat American families humans have?

An example of something a little more recent...take the aboriginal remains they have at the British Museum. Those b******* still won't give them back. Even though the aboriginies have explicitly asked for them to be returned to their graves.

Wouldn't it make you mad if someone did that to someone you cared about?

Hawass is not American.

i agree with you i love science and history, but i think is really disrespectful to do this, not only the ones that lived thousand of years ago, not even criminals should have this done to their corpses, what gave us the right to do this?