Saturday, May 31, 2008

More re DNA testing to be carried out on mummy

Egypt State Information Service

More re the announcement by Zahi Hawass that an anonymous mummy is going to undergo DNA testing with a view to determining if it is Tuthmosis I.

A mummy found at the Valley of the Kings in Luxor might belong to Tohotmos I (1525 -1516 BC), father of Queen Hatshepsut of ancient Egypt, says the chief of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawwas.

Discovered outside the tomb of King Seti II during the last century, the mummy will be moved to the Egyptian Museum to undergo examination, Hawwas announced Thursday 29/5/2008. An Egyptian archeological team will run DNA tests and CT scans to know for sure if it is the mummy of Tohotmos I.

The remains of two other mummies will also arrive at the Egyptian Museum Friday 30/5/2008. The mummies, which belong to two women, had been discovered by Italian archeologist Giovanni Battista Belzoni in 1817. Destroyed in the 19th century, the remnants of the two mummies were collected in coffins to move them to the museum with what is believed to be Tohotmos I Mummy. All this is done as part of a mummy study project that the SCA initiated. Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawwas inspected on Thursday three mummies found in Qirna area, west of Luxor city.

The mummies are due to be ferried to Cairo Friday to be thoroughly examined and to know if they have relations with Pharaonic kings and queens, amidst expectations that one of the mummies is royal. Hawwas inspected two more mummies inside Amenhotep tomb. The inspection was filmed by the cameraman of a foreign TV channel that accompanied Hawwas.

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