Archaeologists investigating the great pharaoh’s tomb face the mystery of the great pharaoh’s vanished stepmother.
If the new investigations into King Tut’s tomb reveal hidden rooms, could those chambers hold the burial of Nefertiti, the long-lost queen who is doubly connected to the teenage pharaoh? If so, they might add one more mummy to his intriguingly interwoven family ties.
More than a century of excavations in and around Egypt’s Valley of the Kings has revealed 64 tombs and other related chambers. The treasure-filled burial of King Tutankhamun, known now as KV62, is by far the most famous. But many other royal tombs and mummies from ancient Egypt’s 18th and 19th Dynasties have also come to light.
But there’s one legendary royal mummy from this period who’s missing, and whose name pops up every time there’s a new discovery in this royal cemetery—the beautiful Queen Nefertiti. She was the principal wife of Akhenaten, Tut’s father. Tut’s mother was a different wife, whose name we don’t know. That makes Nefertiti Tut’s stepmother.
Tut’s family ties are further complicated by the royal custom of incest during this period. Tut married his half-sister Ankenman, a daughter of Nefertiti and Akhenaten. And that makes Nefertiti his mother-in-law.
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