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Episode 7 already? Wow. It’s time for The Struggling Archaeologist’s Guide to Getting Dirty to introduce its newest treasure- “Holy Crackpot Theory Batman!”
I hope you’re ready, because this amount of awesome-ness couldn’t be contained in a mere half hour. This is going to be a 58 minute episode folks! That’s right, once you get me started on Ancient Egypt I just do not shut up. Of course, when I don’t shut up I don’t always think straight- as was clearly the case when I stated that Thutmose III was Queen Hatshepsut’s son (what an idiot right?). So DISCLAIMER: I do really know that he was only a step-son, born to one of Hatshepsut’s husband’s (Thutmose II) secondary wives Iset. I mean, like DUH, right?
So I’ll leave the jabbering for the podcast. If you have any cool insight into anything Ancient Egypt send me an email at guidetogettingdirty@gmail.com, or leave a comment on our facebook page! And don’t forget you can listen to or download the podcast on iTunes, Podbean, or Stitcher, huzzah!
And for your viewing pleasure, here are some pictures of mummies from the royal family of everybody’s favorite Technicolor coat wearing vizier, Yuya! They’re like the English monarchy of Ancient history (if Nefertiti is Diana, does that make Tut and Ankhesenamun like William and Kate?) As you can probably tell, this episode was most likely just another excuse for me to talk about mummies. mwahahahahaha (evil laugh)!

The mummies of Yuya (left) and Tuya (right), I mean is it me or does he not look like Charlton Heston?

 

 King Amenhotep III’s statue and mummy. I think it looks like his mummy is giggling about something…

Queen Tiye, daughter of Yuya and Tuya and wife of King Amenhotep III. Girl, you work that hurr!

King Akhenaten (aka Amenhotep IV) and Queen Nefertiti. They were most likely both children of Amenhotep III and Tiye. Identifying their mummies is still a challenge, though the mummy from Valley of the Kings tomb KV55 seen above has been cautiously identified as Akhenaten- though there are objections stemming from geneticists. Some argue that a mummy known as the “Younger Lady” is none other than Nefertiti, but that has yet to be confirmed either. Here’s a happy inscription of Akhenaten and either Nefertiti or one of their daughters worshipping the sun God Aten!
Notice in this and the two sculptures above the more realistic style of art. This was a huge departure from the way pharaohs and Queens had been depicted in the past. Even though we see it as a more realistic style, it’s still theorized that Akhenaten (who appears to have quite the hourglass figure and very distinctive facial features in these depictions), may have been instructing his artists to imbue him with these features because he thought they made him appear more like the human form of the Sun God Aten- the God he had elevated above all others in the Egyptian pantheon and declared the only true God.

Finally, we have King Tutankhamun (aka Tutankhaten) and his lovely wife Ankhesenamun (aka Ankhesenpaaten). Tut was the son of Akhenaten and either Nefertiti or another of Akhenaten’s wives, possibly a woman named Kiya. Ankhesenamun was the 3rd of 6 daughters born to Akhenaten and Nefertiti. As royal husband and wife/brother and sister the pair were depicted happily on many reliefs, but their marriage was probably not the picnic it’s made out to be. When Tut died at 19 yrs old he was buried with the mummified bodies of two still-born daughters, believed to be his and Ankhesenamun’s children. After he died she may have been married to his successor, the (by this time quite older) Pharoah and former vizier Aye. But knowing that Tut’s lineage had made many enemies in Egypt she wrote to a Hittite king asking for help, and a ticket out of Egypt. Sadly, the prince sent by the King never made it and Ankhesenamun was never heard from again… There are several mummies suspected of being the young Queen, but none have been positively identified. This is where the royal lineage of Yuya and Tuya stops, and the age of the Ramessids begins…
Enjoy the episode folks, McNiven OUT!