Queen Nefertari, the Royal Spouse of Pharaoh Ramses II: A Multidisciplinary Investigation of the Mummified Remains Found in Her Tomb (QV66)

Abstract

Queen Nefertari, the favourite Royal Consort of Pharaoh Ramses II (Ancient Egypt, New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty c. 1250 BC) is famous for her beautifully decorated tomb in the Valley of the Queens. Her burial was plundered in ancient times yet still many objects were found broken in the debris when the tomb was excavated. Amongst the found objects was a pair of mummified legs. They came to the Egyptian Museum in Turin and are henceforth regarded as the remains of this famous Queen, although they were never scientifically investigated. The following multidisciplinary investigation is the first ever performed on those remains. The results (radiocarbon dating, anthropology, paleopathology, genetics, chemistry and Egyptology) all strongly speak in favour of an identification of the remains as Nefertari’s, although different explanations—albeit less likely—are considered and discussed. The legs probably belong to a lady, a fully adult individual, of about 40 years of age. The materials used for embalming are consistent with Ramesside mummification traditions and indeed all objects within the tomb robustly support the burial as of Queen Nefertari.

Paleogenetic study on the 17th century Korean mummy with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease

“…For instance, based on mummy studies, Thompson et al [ 56 ] established that certain ancient individuals suffered from atherosclerosis while alive even though they would have been significantly less exposed to risk factors than we are today. By multiple vascular calcifications on radiological images, atherosclerosis and arteriosclerosis also has been proven a common disease among the ancient Egyptians [ 57 , 58 ]. Pathological signs of atherosclerosis were found in an 18th century Aleutian female mummy [ 59 ] and an Italian Renaissance mummy [ 60 ] as well.…”

The Burden of Arteriosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease in Ancient Populations

“…While standard X-ray investigation only rarely identifies vascular calcification (Bianucci et al 2015;Habicht et al 2016), generally best on high-resolution-contact X-rays of specific organs or organ samples (Fig. 7), the application of multidetector and high-resolution CT scans has revolutionized the identification of atherosclerosis in paleopathology (Fig.…”

Paleopathological study of a podal osteochondroma from the prehistoric Hypogeum of Calaforno (Sicily)

“…In this article, we aim to enrich current knowledge about this benign tumor in ancient human remains via a comprehensive multidisciplinary anatomical and paleopathological study (Habicht et al, 2016; Seiler et al, 2019), adducing novel data in a case from prehistoric Sicily.…”