One of the most mysterious and powerful women in ancient Egypt,
Nefertiti was queen alongside Pharaoh Akhenaten from 1353
to 1336 BC and may have ruled the new kingdom outright after her husband's death.
Her reign was a time of tremendous cultural upheaval as
Akhenaten
reoriented Egypt's religious and political structure around the worship of the Sun God Aten.
Nefertiti is best known for her painted sandstone bust which was rediscovered in
1913 and became a global icon of feminine beauty and power.
On the walls of the tombs and temples built during Akhenaten's reign,
Nefertiti is depicted alongside her husband with the frequency seen for no other Egyptian queen.
In many cases she is shown in positions of power and authority
leading the worship of Aten.
After Nefertiti had given birth to six daughters,
her husband began taking other wives, including his own sister with whom he fathered the future King Tut
Tutankhamun.
Nefertiti's third daughter would eventually become her half brother Tutenkhamun's queen.
It's a mystery as old as the pyramids.
What happened to Queen Nefertiti a legendary beauty and powerful ruler married to King Tut's father?
So beloved he made her co-king, but after death she was erased, her mummy gone.
- This is the most famous image of Nefertiti - Josh Gates, archaeologist and adventurer, was hooked
travelling to Egypt for the Travel Channel's "Expedition Unknown" to look for answers.
This is a tomb known as KV35.
The first clue, far from King Tut: a mummy known as "The Younger Lady", now in a quiet corner of the Cairo Museum.
In 2010, DNA tests proved she was King Tut's mother. Was she a mistress, another wife
or, as Gates and egyptologist Aden Dodson suspect, the missing Nefertiti? Is it possible that the mummy of
Nefertiti is actually sitting under glass in a museum right now?
- I think it may be probable. - They used high-tech imaging to scan
the younger lady's head for the first time,
creating an exact replica, the basis for a forensic reconstruction. - This rather sad,
mutilated face, you can't really visualize as a living breathing woman. - It's very hard to see people in the past.
It's even harder to see women because they're so often framed by men. So this is an
opportunity to see a real woman, a real powerful woman from history brought back to life. - Enter
Elizabeth Danes, the artist behind this reconstruction of King Tut and now his mother.
She says her toughest job yet, building a face with covered eyes, a missing jaw.
Three months later "The Younger Lady" has a face. - I'm dying to meet her. - To be able to come face to face with a living woman
will be absolutely thrilling. - A face just maybe to help solve an ancient mystery of the legendary
extraordinary
Nefertiti. For today Kelly (?), NBC News, Paris. - And Josh is with us now
along with his little friend here
What was the inspiration for doing this? - You know Nefertiti is, I think, sadly
remembered as the most beautiful woman of the ancient world, but in fact she was a really substantial leader.
This is a woman who was a pharaoh and I think that it's time to
identify her to, figure out who she really was. We know her from this famous bust in Berlin that everyone
sort of remembers her from, but that's a kind of idealized image.
And so we wanted to look at this mummy in the Egyptian Museum and say "could this be the real Nefertiti?" - All right
so we're gonna reveal it, but this is 3D imaging, you think this is spot on.
This is spot on, this was a 3D image of the mummy's
head was done,
it was then given to a forensics team and an incredible world-class reconstruction artist so this is very accurate. - All right here it comes!
- Well that's intense. - Isn't she amazing? - Yeah, she really is. So how do you reconstruct?
And how accurate do you think this?
I think it's extremely accurate to the mummy that the forensics artists are able to do an extremely good job at looking at the tissue
depth determining muscle and all of that and so what we're looking at here for sure is King Tut's mother.
We know genetically that this mummy is King Tut's mother.
We know that Tut's father was Akhenaten who was married to Nefertiti
so it's a good bet, and the really encouraging thing for me
is that when you look at the known ancient images of Nefertiti that we have, like the Berlin bust, there are amazing similarities here
- I was gonna say it looks, a lot of people get those necklaces with that side view, right? They sell them everywhere in Cairo and
it looks spot-on yeah. - What's amazing really is that the Berlin bust is this kind of idealized image
It's the sort of ancient Photoshop, right?
This is a real woman and when we look at this reconstructed bust what we see here is someone who is
substantial and someone whose mummy was really cast off and now we can really see her restored, have her dignity restored. - Wow, that was cool.
Indistinct artistry and obviously an archaeological feat as well, but it's really cool Josh. Thank you.
DNA tests revealed that the mummy known as "The Younger Lady", from which this facial reconstruction was made, has been
identified as the mother of the pharaoh
Tutankhamun and a daughter of Pharaoh Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye.
That said
speculation that this mummy was the remains of Queen Nefertiti,
which still remains possible, have not yet been confirmed to my knowledge. So still a possibility,
but questions remain.
The 18th Dynasty of Egypt is classified as the first dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period
lasting from about 1550 BC to 1292 BC,
boasting several of Egypt's most famous Pharaoh's, including Akhenaten,
Nefertiti and King Tut.
The 18th is unique among ancient Egyptian dynasties in that it had two female rulers
Hatshepsut being the other.
This is Yuya and this is Tuya
They're the grandparents of Akhenaten, who is now known to be King Tut's father.
They were found intact in their tomb and their identities are certain.
Well, there's our research that we're hearing today that shows that half of all Western European men are somehow related to the
Egyptian pharaoh king Tutankhamun
CTV's Mirela Fernandez here with more on this. Marilla, what's up with this?
- It's really interesting actually. So this is coming out of Switzerland
and the researchers there have found that not only do half of Western European men have this connection, genetic profile connection, but
70% of men in Britain which is astounding, but they all have the same
genetic
profile or same ancestry as King Tut from Egypt way back then. And here's what's really shocking
about this: less than one percent of modern-day
Egyptians have that same connection.
According to a study by one of the top genealogical publishers of the world, that has provided authoritative
genealogical records of historical families from more than 190 years,
Queen Elizabeth is a descendant of Islam's Prophet
Muhammad
specifically his 43rd
great-granddaughter. A release by United Press International
dated October 10
1986 says
Moslems in Buckingham Palace
Mixed in with Queen Elizabeth's blue blood is the blood of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad, according to Burke's peerage the
genealogical guide to royalty
the relation came out when Harold B Brooks Baker,
publishing director of Berks, wrote Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
to ask for better security for the royal family
Quote: "The Royal Family's direct descendent from the Prophet Muhammad cannot be relied upon to
protect the royal family forever from Muslim terrorists", he said.
Probably realizing the connection would be a surprise to many, he added quote "It is little known by the British people
that the blood of Muhammad flows in the veins of the Queen.
However, all Muslim religious leaders are proud of this fact," end quote.
Burke Baker said the British royal family is descended from Muhammad through the Arab kings of Seville who once ruled Spain.
By marriage their blood passed through to the European kings of Portugal and Castille and through them to England's
15th century King Edward IV.
It's something you might not expect to be written on a 9th-century Viking ring "For Allah".
The ring was discovered back in the late 1800s during excavations of the Viking trading center in Birka, Sweden.
And they were able to clearly see that the ancient Arabic writing reads "For Allah" or "To Allah".
The researchers say that most likely
we'll never know the exact meaning behind the inscription or where and why it was done,
but that the ring definitely offers a link between the two civilizations long ago.
This image is said to be of actual hair from the beard of the Prophet Muhammad
The red hair said to have been shaved from Muhammad's face by his barber Salman in the presence of Abu Bakar,
Ali and several other witnesses.
Individual hairs were later taken away, but the beard itself is kept protected and on display in a glass container.
Starting after the age of fourty the Prophet Muhammad began to dye his grain beard red
To gain a more youthful appearance, as the Prophet Muhammad himself was reported to have
naturally red hair when he was young.
This helps to explain why millions of Muslims today,
some being of Sub-Saharan African origin with black hair, also dye their beards with red henna.
The same way that DNA evidence has demonstrated
that about 99% of modern-day
Egyptians are not genetically related
to the blonde and redheaded Pharaohs the vast
majority of Muslims today have no ethnic relation to the Prophet Muhammad, yet still dye themselves with red henna
out of respect, tradition,
imitation and
religious reasons.
My name is Robert Sepehr. I'm an independent
anthropologist. I appreciate your support by subscribing and for sharing these videos
Thank you for the wonderful comments and to those that have made a donation to
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Your contribution is very much appreciated.
Be well, until next time.