Tut’s Mother: The Enigmatic ‘Young Lady’—A Story of Royal Intrigue, Mystery, and Tragic Death at Age 25!

December 10, 2024

The face of Queen Nefertiti, who may have been King Tut’s biological mother, will be revealed on the Travel Channel’s Expedition Unknown, airing Wednesday night. The face is the result of the latest 3D imaging technology that used the mummy’s facial structure to bring the 3,400-year-old queen to life, but it is the color of the sculpture’s skin, not her cheekbones, that stands out. has generated the most controversy.

To create the bust of the ancient queen, a team of scientists from the University of Bristol in England digitally mapped the face of a mummy known as “The Young Lady.” The mummy was found in 1898 and is believed to belong to Queen Nefertiti, but this was never proven. The mummy’s face was then digitally mapped to create an accurate facial construction for the bust. Paleoartist Elisabeth Daynes then recreated the queen’s face on the bust, a painstaking process that took around 500 hours of work, a statement on the TV show reported. By comparing the bust with historical images of Nefertiti, researchers were able to show that the “young lady” mummy was in fact the famous queen.

“This extraordinary face appears to be consistent with ancient representations of Nefertiti,” Aidan Dodson, an Egyptologist at the University of Bristol who participated in the project, said in a statement. “It’s extraordinary. “Taken into account along with the latest readout of the genetic data, it provides us with truly exciting evidence that the Young Lady’s mummy is none other than Queen Nefertiti herself.”

The program focuses on investigating three of the most powerful women in ancient Egyptian history: Hatshepsut, Cleopatra and Nefertiti, according to a statement from the program.

Related: Ancient Egyptian pyramidion found next to world’s largest obelisk suggests existence of queen’s lost chamber

According to The History Channel, Nefertiti was queen from 1353 to 1336 BC. C. and it is possible that she even ruled Egypt after the death of her husband, Pharaoh Akhenaten. Her full name, Neferneferuaton, means “beautiful are the beauties of Aten, a beautiful woman has arrived,” a tribute to both the main Egyptian god, Aten, and the famous beauty of the queen.

The 3D images only managed to copy the facial structure of the mummy, other features such as skin color and eyes were left to the artist’s discretion. Many were soon outraged on Twitter by the artist’s decision to paint Nefertiti with such light skin.

Since Nefertiti lived long before the age of photography, there is no way to know the ancient queen’s exact skin tone, although the most famous bust depicting her, believed to have been created in 1345 BC, is believed to have been created in 1345 BC. C., represents a darker monarch.

Beyond the controversy over skin tone, the new bust is celebrated for its accuracy in other aspects, such as its depiction of the queen’s muscle tone and the depth of her skin tissue. Combined, these details reveal the face of one of the most influential and well-known women in world history.

Facial reconstruction of the “Young Lady” mummy along with a three-dimensional replica of her head created from a digital photograph taken by Elisabeth Daynès in collaboration with Travel Channel’s “Expedition Unknown” and Josh Gates. Photo courtesy of Travel Channel.

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