Egypt to Reveal the Results of DNA Testing on King Tut's Mummy
On Sunday, Egypt's antiquities department made the announcement that they will soon reveal the results of DNA testing conducted on the world's most famous ancient king, Pharaoh Tutankhamun, which was undertaken to answer lingering mysteries over his lineage. Archaeology chief Zahi Hawass said at a conference that he would announce the results of DNA tests and CAT scans on February 17.
The results of DNA and CAT scans on King Tut's mummy will be compared to those made of King Amenhotep III, who may have been Tutankamun's grandfather.
The testing of Tut's mummy is part of a wider program to check the DNA of hundreds of mummies to determine their family relations and identities. It is hoped that the program will help to determine Tut's family lineage, something which has long been a source of mystery.
The identity of Tutankamun's parents is not definitively known, though many experts believe that he is the son of Akhenaten, the 18th Dynasty pharaoh who tried to introduce monotheism to Egypt 3,500 years ago. His mother is believed to be one of Akhenaten's queens, Kiya. Others, however, suggest that Tut was the son of a lesser known pharaoh that followed Akhenaten.
Tut was one of the final kinds of Egypt's 18th Dynasty, ruling during a crucial, tumultuous time when Akhenaten's monotheism ended and powers were returned to the priests of the country's multiple deities.
The department has announced ambitious plans to conduct DNA tests on Egyptian mummies, including tests on all royal mummies and the two dozen unidentified ones stored at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. It is believed that some of the sting could show that some of the royal mummies on display are not who they were thought to be. One of their big goals is to find the mummy of Nefertiti, Akhenaten's wife legendary for her beauty.
Hawass has long rejected DNA testing be conducted on Egyptian mummies by foreign experts, and just recently allowed such projects to go forth on the condition that they be done only by Egyptians. With funding from the Discovery Channel, a $5 million DNA lab was created at the Egyptian Museum.
In addition, Hawass announced Sunday that a robot would be sent inside the Great Pyramind of Khufu to learn the secrets of its hidden passageways.
Comments
so.. is Zahi Hawass the ONLY archeologist in egypt? Or does he just take the credit for the work of anyone working there? any article talking about the work done to further or knowledge of ancient egypt has his name all over it. cant hear of any work being done but this one man's. doesn't he get tired running hundreds of digs and research projects?
He's the head of archeaology and he takes credit for everything anyone has ever done over there. He's done a lot of good for egypt but he tears down anyone he thinks might have their own ideas. It's a little give and a little take. I like some of what he's done but as a person he's well, not a decent one.
fully agree........any space between HAWASS and a camera/microphone must be considered dangerous
Dr Hawass is the High Priest of Egyptian Archaeology.
Does this newspaper no longer utilize the services of proofreaders and copy editors?
* "Tut was one of the final kinds" - I assume the author meant "kings."
* "the Great Pyramind of Khufu" - Is this some new amalgam of architecture and biology, the "pyramind?"
Sheesh, I know newspapers are a dying industry and all that, but even my 10 year old son could have spotted these errors.
Yes, Hawass is in charge of Egypt in regards to archaeology, but he definitely is not a very nice person when it comes to ideas that "might" challenge the conventional ones. I guess at an old age, one must protect a lifetime of work, even if that work "might" be not so accurate...
zawi hawass is a pig headed egyptian who is only interested in the story and time line that they have created. any ideas that would contradict him are labelled as "atlantean" or "alien" rubbish. we know that geologists have dated the sphinx to be far older than egyptologists will conceed. we know this through an academic approach. water weathered limestone that is considered inferior quality? seems unlikely that a culture that strived for perfection would use second rate materials. who would you beleive..? the geolgist who is not affected by beleif but rather fact, or a passionate egyption who is only concern is egypt. its about time that the unesco were allowed to control these ancient sites.. egyption or not, this is the worlds heritage we are talking about
If you are trying to infer that a culture older than the Egyptians created the sphynx----or even that an advanced culture existed in Egypt before the well known Egyptian Kindoms---then you are incorrect and probably watch way too many psuedo scientific tv programs. There is ample evidence from thousands of different divisions of anthropology and archaeology that prove to a strong degree of certainty that: Before 5000 bc as a generalized date----there were no advanced cultures in the world. By advanced we mean in general----practiced agriculture, animal husbandry, weaveing textiles, using wheels or wagons, writing, trading over significant distances, making advanced forms of architecture to name a few traits. These aren't opinions----barring the actual intervention of a force that can change the world in a way that fools science and the scientific method-----the current model describing the advance in human culture stands on mountains of evidence. If you do believe in alien interventions, or holy subterfuge, or abnormally advanced humans in a landscape of hunters and gatherers----well you have a right to your opinions----but they will never see supporting evidence for these beliefs.
One cannot carbon date rock. Geologists have not ""dated the sphinx"" Only artifacts that were once living can be carbon dated.
Correct. Carbon dating can only be done on once living or carbonaeceous materials and only up to around 60 thousand years old - give or take a few thousand. Rock and sedimentary layers are dated via Relative and Absolute dating. Absolute dating is done radiometrically simliar to carbon dating. Carbon dating specifically deals with the radioactive decay of Carbon 14. Carbon 14 is present only in the living / once living materials between 50,000 - 60,000 years old.
Is Dr. Hawass the sole face of Egyptian studies? He is the media allowable candidate it would appear.. as he in the ONLY one who ever appears with, one assumes, the full sanction of the Egyptian regime. Are there not other researchers in a country whose history is of world interest? There seems to have been a propaganda decision to let Dr. Hawass appear the "sole" voice of Egyptology: why?
yep
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zahi_Hawass
I think the comments here are needlessly harsh. I have watched or read vast amounts of data in which Hawass figured prominantly and I would say the following in his defense: 1. He is a genuine scientist, who believes in the scientific method, and modern scientific analysis. He has nothing for disdain for pseudoscience and its adherents(naked archaeologist for one. Alien conspiracy theorists for other) and rightly so. 2. He is nothing less than a hero---a giant among men---for Egyptian science and learning---he has fought to preserve Egyptian heritage after years of outright theft and profiteering by nations from around the world, including us the U.S. 3. His contributions to science in Egypt have led indirectly to improvements in methodology and analysis for Archaeological studies around the globe. 4. His attitude and energy and obvious love of his work have introduced millions of people world wide to the wonderful world of archaeology.
I am not a fan of Dr. Hawass, but can find nothing wrong with your comments in support of him... would that I could.
I hope the DNA tests are conclusive. I've puzzled over late 18th Dynasty relationships. Understanding who these people were and where their ideas came from will tell us much about the foundations of civilization.
On the subject of Zahi Hawass, how about a few words from someone who knows him? We have a mutual friend, & I have spent time with him on about 6 occasions in the last 11 years (both in the USA & Egypt). I would describe him as kind, generous, brilliant, charismatic, energetic, & passionate about his work.
The people who have trouble dealing with him are those whose theories are not supported by evidence. If you propose something radical, you had better be able to back it up by making the connections from points A to B to C. Blind leaps of faith are not going to cut it.
EP1790222 This is No of my patent on mummification published by European Patent Office on 2007 and used by HAWAS to unlock DNA without my permit , I have 2 Human mummies and more than 100 animal mummies – Yahya BEDIR
It is not certain that the 4th Dynasty Egyptians saw in the Sphinx an image of Atum. However, even if the Great Sphinx was an image of the king, according to the Pyramid Texts, kingship descended from Atum, through Shu, Geb and Osiris to Horus, and therefore, the reigning king of Egypt.
Hawass is clearly suppressing DNA information about these mummies for political reasons, he's no scientist.