Posted July 16, 2007
This isn't really a blog. We don't have the software set up for that yet. But I did want to express my thoughts about last nights show concerning the finding of the mummy of Hatshepsut. My overall reaction is that the show was too long (but that is to be expected when you are forced to fill a timslot). More importantly I thought the show was excellent in its overall presentation and accuracy.
Kudos for all involved. Dr Zahi dominated, as always, but made substantive contributions. The interviewed Egyptologists were all on target. And the evidence was impressive. I'm convinced.
There are, however, a couple of items which I would like to expand upon.
Giving credit where it is due, in 1966, Elizabeth Thomas identified KV60 with the wet nurse of Hatshepsut (it had previously been thought to contain the mummy of the wet nurse of Thutmose IV) and further speculated "did Thutmose III inter Hatshepsut intrusively in this simple tomb below her own?", thus accounting for both mummies. ("The Royal Necropolis of Thebes" by Elizabeth Thomas, 1996, page 139). Certainly little evidence and no proof, but without a doubt the starting point for the entire investigation.
As to the reasons for the destruction of Hatshepsuts images, succession of the Thutmoside line has also been speculated by several sources over the years. I wrote about this issue myself 10 years ago in "Hatshepsut and Thutmose III Reconsidered: Some Thoughts on the Nature of their Relationship" (Kmt: A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt, 1997). I believe Lanny Bell, and quite possibly others, have made the same ascertation, but don't have a reference for them.
Fianlly in my article, mentioned above, I speculated that perhaps Hatshepsut had not died when Thutmose III assumed sole rule in Year 22. If her health was as bad as indicated in last nights show, it seems now to be quite possible that she passed from the scene (being unable to rule) in year 22 but did not actually die until a year or two later.
Posted by Bill Petty