Nefertiti

She was made famous by her bust in Berlin's Egyptian Museum[?], shown to the right. The bust is one of the most copied works of ancient Egypt. It was carved by the sculptor Tutmose[?] and was found in his workshop[?].

Family

Nefertiti's parentage is not known, but it has been conjectured that she may have been a daughter of Ay[?] and Tey[?]. Depending on which reconstruction of the genealogy of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs is followed, her husband Akhenaton may have been the father or half-brother of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

She and Akhenaton married in his fourth year at el-'Amarna, which Akhenaton made his capital city, and which he dedicated to his new religion. The couple had six known daughters, named Meritaten, Meketaten, Ankhesenpaaten, Neferneferuaten Tasherit, Neferneferure, and Setepenre. The third daughter, Ankhesenpaaten, went on to become Tutankhamun's queen.

In about 1340 BC Nefertiti vanishes from the historical record and there is no word of her from then on. Theories range from a sudden death that was so emotionally painful to her husband that he forbid her being mentioned, or that she somehow fell out of favor and was replaced, so it became politically incorrect to discuss her. Whatever really happened has been completely lost to history.

The mummy discovered?

On June 9, 2003, archaelogist Joann Fletcher, a mummification specialist from the University of York in England, announced that Nefertiti's mummy may have been found in tomb KV35 in Egypt's Valley of the Kings in Luxor. Ms. Fletcher led the expedition, funded by the Discovery Channel, that is believed to have recovered Nefertiti's mummy.

On June 12, 2003, Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council for Antiquities[?] dismissed the claim, saying that there was not enough evidence.

External Links

• Reuters article on Nefertiti's mummy (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2900973)
• Zahi Hawass refutes Nefertiti claims (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=KPHXFTPQYRNMOCRBAEZSFEY?type=topNews&storyID=2919079)
• J. Kluger, A. Dorfman, Nefertiti found?, Time, June 16, 2003; online edition (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101030616-457370,00)