Nefertari

Name: Probably Queen Nefertari, wife of King Ramses II

Individual’s age: about 40 years

Historical age: approx. 1300-1250 B.C. Ramesside (19th Dynasty) (based on Chemistry used in mummification)

Sex: female

Origin: Egypt, tomb QV 66 of Queen Nefertari in the Valley of the Queens. Discovered in 1906 by Italian Egyptologist Ernesto Schiaparelli.

Type of mummification: artificial

Examinations carried out: Conventional X-ray, Sampling for Chemistry and aDNA.

Diseases and other special characteristics: Minimal signs of arthritis in the knee, fully adult. Very slim and delicate bones were observed. Body height reconstruction: c. 165 cm (+/-2.5 cm). Second body height reconstruction using foot size, deducted from the pair of sandals found in QV 66 lead to the same body height.

Museum: Turin, Museo Egizio, S. 05154 RCGE 14467

Literature:

• Habicht, Michael E., Raffaella Bianucci, Stephen A. Buckley, Joann Fletcher, Roger Seiler, Lena M. Öhrström, Abigail S. Bouwman, Eleni Vassilika, and Frank J. Rühli. 2015. “Investigation Of Mummified Knees, Found In The Tomb QV 66 Of Queen Nefertari, Wife Of Pharaoh Ramses II. [submitted].” Antiquity.

Media/Press:

• 1978 La tumba de Nefertari - Esposa de Ramsés II
  
• Nefertari, For Whom the Sun Shines - BBC Chronicle, 1989