Tomb of King Tut's Wife, Ankhesenamun Could be Found Soon

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King Tut became a household name because the teenage pharaoh’s tomb escaped the notice of looters for millennia until Egyptologist Howard Carter popped it open in 1922, revealing incredible treasures, including his golden funerary mask—imagery that has become synonymous with ancient Egypt. Now, archaeologists are hoping to get lucky again. As Owen Jarus at LiveScience reports, this month excavations have begun on what may be the tomb of Tutankhamun’s half-sister and wife, Ankhesenamun.

In the summer of 2017, Jarus reported that archaeologists were using radar to examine the area around the tomb of Pharaoh Ay (who ruled directly after Tut), when scans showed there were four foundation deposits or caches that indicated a tomb likely was constructed in the vicinity.

The search for that tomb is taking place in the Valley of the Monkeys, an area adjacent to the Valley of the Kings, the elaborate warren of 64 or more rock-cut tombs near Luxor where many of Egypt’s most famous rulers are buried. In a statement, Zahi Hawass, who is leading the dig says it’s not certain that the tomb—if one exists at all—belongs to Ankhesenamun, but many historians believe her tomb exists somewhere in the valley.

So why is Tut’s bride buried in a different valley from the famous pharaoh? Ankhesenamun’s story is incomplete, but what we know is pretty incredible. She was born Ankhesenpaaten to Pharaoh Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti in 1350 B.C. She was wedded to her own father, known as the “heretic king” who upended Egyptian religion and government, and possibly bore him a daughter before turning 13. She was then wed to her half-brother King Tut.

According to Hawass’ book The Golden King: The World of Tutankhuman the two may have been a good match. “To judge from their portrayal in the art that fills the golden king’s tomb, this was certainly the case [that they loved one another],” he writes. “We can feel the love between them as we see the queen standing in front of her husband giving him flowers and accompanying him while he was hunting.”

After King Tut’s unexpected death Ankhesenamun did not want to marry Tut’s successor, Ay, who may have been her grandfather, which was expected of her. She wrote to the king of the Hittites, the people Egypt was warring with at the time, asking him to send her one of his sons to wed. The king did indeed send one of his sons, who was killed on the border of Egypt by a general called Horemheb (who became the last pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt). That incident is the last time Ankhesenamun appears in the record. A ring that includes the names of both Ay and Ankhesenamun suggests that she did eventually marry that pharaoh, but there is no conclusive evidence to support that statement. It’s also possible that she was killed for contacting the Hittites. As it stands, historians just don’t know how her story ends.

The new excavation could finally lead to some answers about Ankhesenamun or whoever the owner of the tomb turns out to be. But the search could also lead to nothing, which Hawass tells Jarus is a real possibility. In 2016, archaeologists who scanned King Tut’s tomb said they believed there were undiscovered chambers adjacent to burial that could contain the mummies of Queen Nefertiti or even Ankhesenamun. But a more thorough scan by National Geographic a few months later did not reveal evidence of the chambers.

New discoveries, however, are always possible. Last November, a multi-disciplinary team found a large void inside the Great Pyramid of Giza and researcher also found several new tombs at the Draa Abul-Naga necropolis near Luxor.

Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smar...king-tuts-wife-180967858/#d33BxWmaAPeE67ur.99
 
No wonder they wound up with offspring who were genetic messes. So much for wanting to keep royal blood lines "pure".

The Hapsburgs also paid for that, although at least they didn't marry daughter to father.

"The Habsburg King Carlos II of Spain was sadly degenerated with an enormous misshapen head. His Habsburg jaw stood so much out that his two rows of teeth could not meet; he was unable to chew. His tongue was so large that he was barely able to speak. His intellect was similarly disabled. His brief life consisted chiefly of a passage from prolonged infancy to premature senility. Carlos’ family was anxious only to prolong his days and thought little about his education, so that he could barely read or write. He had been fed by wet nurses until the age of 5 or 6 and was not allowed to walk until almost fully grown. Even then, he was unable to walk properly, because his legs would not support him and he fell several times. His body remained that of an invalid child. The nature of his upbringing, the inadequacy of his education, the stiff etiquette of his court, his dependence upon his mother and his superstition helped to create a mentally retarded and hypersensitive monarch."

See: "The role of inbreeding in the extinction of a European royal dynasty."
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0005174

Even too much inbreeding within ethno-religious groups is very problematical, like all the inbreeding in certain groups in the Middle East, and in Indian groups in the U.K.
 
No wonder they wound up with offspring who were genetic messes. So much for wanting to keep royal blood lines "pure".

The Hapsburgs also paid for that, although at least they didn't marry daughter to father.

"The Habsburg King Carlos II of Spain was sadly degenerated with an enormous misshapen head. His Habsburg jaw stood so much out that his two rows of teeth could not meet; he was unable to chew. His tongue was so large that he was barely able to speak. His intellect was similarly disabled. His brief life consisted chiefly of a passage from prolonged infancy to premature senility. Carlos’ family was anxious only to prolong his days and thought little about his education, so that he could barely read or write. He had been fed by wet nurses until the age of 5 or 6 and was not allowed to walk until almost fully grown. Even then, he was unable to walk properly, because his legs would not support him and he fell several times. His body remained that of an invalid child. The nature of his upbringing, the inadequacy of his education, the stiff etiquette of his court, his dependence upon his mother and his superstition helped to create a mentally retarded and hypersensitive monarch."

See: "The role of inbreeding in the extinction of a European royal dynasty."
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0005174

Even too much inbreeding within ethno-religious groups is very problematical, like all the inbreeding in certain groups in the Middle East, and in Indian groups in the U.K.
I had no idea someone like that was able to become a king; was he at least smart enough to understand his title?? I know it's all about preserving lines but come on, someone with that much disability?
 
I had no idea someone like that was able to become a king; was he at least smart enough to understand his title?? I know it's all about preserving lines but come on, someone with that much disability?

Chances are that a group of the Top Class “Advisers Kiss/Asses” manipulated the Weak Royal to benefit themselves. [emoji846]
 
"Charles inherited the Portuguese Restoration War and soon after his accession Spain was plunged into the War of Devolution with France in the Spanish Netherlands and Franche-Comté. As regent, Mariana managed the country's affairs through a series of favourites ("validos"), whose merits usually amounted to no more than meeting her fancy."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_Spain

His mother and father were uncle and niece, so, besides being his mother, Mariana was his first cousin, and his father was his great uncle. That's on top of all the inbreeding in the prior centuries. Yuck, and double yuck.

It extended to the French crown as well. Louis XVI married his Hapsburg first cousin.

Either in Victoria herself or her father, the hemophilia mutation occurred. She had a hemophiliac son who had a child, thus spreading the disease, but her daughters were carriers, and so many of them married into so many royal or so many royal families who then interbred, that it spread throughout European royalty, including most famously the Czarevich of Russia, which was a big factor in the downfall of the Romanovs as well.
http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/haemophilia.html

What a stupid way to choose rulers.
 
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The long search for the wife of one of Ancient Egypt’s most famous kings may be over after a startling discovery by archaeologists.


Ankhesenamun served alongside King Tutankhamun, who was also her half brother and cousin, until his death at the age of just 18 in 1323 BC before she went on to marry the next king, Ay.

A photo which has been released by archaeologists shows diggers excavating a spot which was previously analysed by radar and showed an entrance to the royal tomb where King Ay was laid to rest in the Amarna Tomb.

The research has been funded by the Discovery Channel which says that it has “exclusive” access to the site and will release a documentary on the discovery later this year.

A spokesman for the Discovery Channel told Live Science: "Led by renowned archaeologist Dr Zahi Hawass, the crew of more than one hundred Egyptian workers are digging in the largely untouched western portion of the valley, where leading archaeologists believe several royal tombs lie hidden.”

Dr Hawass was part of the team who discovered the potential tomb using radar technology.

He said following the discovery late last year: "We are sure there is a tomb there, but we do not know for sure to whom it belongs.

"We are sure there is a tomb hidden in that area because I found four foundation deposits.”

He explained the foundations are "caches or holes in the ground that were filled with votive objects such as pottery vessels, food remains and other tools as a sign that a tomb construction is being initiated."

"The ancient Egyptians usually did four or five foundation deposits whenever they started a tomb's construction.”

He added: "The radar did detect a substructure that could be the entrance of a tomb.”

https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/944666/ancient-egypt-tutankhamun-discovery-wife-tomb
 

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