Tangled roots, the passed-over prince, aging them bones, lack of control, and Kate Phizackerley’s Quest for Accuracy.

Mark Rose, the online editor for the Archaeological Institute of America and co-writer (with Heather Pringle) of Archaeology Magazine’s blog, Beyond Stone and Bone, was one of the first to look a bit askance at the media coverage of the new analysis of Tutankhamun.  “I suspect they are overdoing it a bit,” he said with regard to their characterization of the Boy King as a frail young man (“Tut: Disease and DNA News”).

Mark was also fast out of the gate to call attention to the age problem with the mummified skeleton from KV55 that was identified by the JAMA article as Akhenaten.  Initial analysis of the mummy based on dental and skeletal analysis suggested a time-of-death in the early 20’s, whereas Akhenaten is believed to have lived into his 30’s. 

In making the attribution of Akhenaten to KV55, the JAMA report simply says:

The mummy in KV55 was previously thought to be in his 20s when he died.  However, our new computed tomography investigation revealed that he lived to be much older.  (JAMA, Table 1, footnote b, p. 640).

In “Time for the Great Pyramid”, Mr. Rose states that he is working on a piece about the results of the JAMA study, set to run in the May/June issue of Archaeology Magazine.  He hopes to get some answers regarding questions he (and we) has about the DNA analysis and CT scan/tomography.

Mark was also kind enough to offer in the Comments section to take his readers’ questions to Dr. Carsten Pusch when he interviews him.  In particular, he stated that he has been following Kate Phizackerley’s articles (below) very closely and will present some of her questions to Pusch. 

Incidentally, I have passed on some of your questions, Gentle Readers, as well as a few of my own.  Mark’s offer in effect places us just one handshake away from one of the primaries of the JAMA article.  Behold the power of the Internet!

Kate Phizackerley, of News from the Valley of the Kings, began her own contribution practically before the ink on the JAMA report was dry.  Beginning with the question of how accurately geneticists can generalize from the data, given the incest issue, Kate went on to pen the first published scholarly critique of the study’s conclusions.

Kate’s work has become the nerve center of the critical analysis of the JAMA study on the Egyptological blogosphere.  Much of it has already been linked from Em Hotep, but for the sake of this compendium I have assembled all of her relevant articles to date:

• The Consanguinity Problem, February 24, 2010
• An example of my consanguinity concerns, February 28, 2010
• DNA Shows that KV55 Mummy Probably Not Akhenaten, March 02, 2010—Kate’s opus magnum detailing her doubts regarding the identification of KV55 as Akhenaten
• Genetic Sudoko, March 3, 2010
• Questions Roundup and a Combative Zahi, March 7, 2010
• Akhenaten Museum Planned, March 11, 2010
• I’ll do a larger DNA table when I get chance – implications for Egyptological, March 13, 2010
• More on Tutankhamun Family DNA, March 26, 2010

Mummies expert Dylan Bickerstaffe has also referenced Kate’s work on the blog section of his website, Exploring Ancient Lands.  In “HAVE THE DNA TESTS PROVED AKHENATEN WAS TUTANKHAMUN’S FATHER? Or have they told us something else?” Dylan raises a brow over the methodology of the study as it was detailed in JAMA.  He is especially concerned over why the study was not conducted blind, as is typically done to prevent the researchers’ expectations from biasing their conclusions. 

Dylan also questions why the control group was so small, and why mummies from other periods were not included to help monitor accuracy.  As he puts it, “Thus if Tutankhamun turns out to be descended from a Ptolemaic mummy, you know you have a problem!”  And then there is the matter of why KV21A and KV21B were in the study rather than the control group.

Speaking of inclusions and exclusions, Tim Reid of The Egyptians wonders why the mummy of a young boy from KV35 was not included in the study at all.  In “The Forgotten Boy,” Tim points out that there are good reasons to suspect that the mummy could be that of Prince Webensenu, a son of Amenhotep II.  The article details some of the adventures and misadventures of the occupants of KV35, and includes some informed speculation about the identity of Smenkhkare, a name that continues to haunt the JAMA study in various and sundry ways.

And while not a blog, Egyptian Dreams is an Egyptology forum with very knowledgeable moderators and participants.  For a number of excellent threads on the JAMA study check out the Evidence from Amarna section.  Some of the threads you will want to explore include:

• Implications of DNA results + KV55=Akhenaten
• Reconsideration of the Chronology of the Eighteenth Dynasty
• Tutankhamen’s family
• Amarna family tree
• KV 21 and mummies KV21A and B

Copyright by Keith Payne, 2010.  All rights reserved.

Re-wrapping a mummy, new Pyramid Texts, Abydos abides, the Akhenaten Museum, Hieroglyphs 101, Hanging out with Dr. Andrzej Cwiek, and WV22?

Whence (and who-ence) mummy WV22?  Tim Reid of The Egyptians raises some questions about the mummy found in KV35, but named WV22.  And it is actually a little more confusing than that:  “the badly damaged mummy was inscribed as Amenhotep III but lying in a coffin trough for Ramses III with a lid for Seti II.”  Check out Tim’s article:  “WV 22?”

Jane Akshar of Luxor News attended a lecture by Dr. Andrzej Cwiek, the Assistant Director of the Polish Mission at Hatshepsut’s temple at Deir el Bahri.  As if that isn’t enviable enough, she spent some one-on-one time with him after the lecture dialoguing and getting a closer look at his work with hieroglyphs.  And if that isn’t enviable enough, the next morning Dr. Cwiek gave Jane a personal tour of the Deir el Bahri site!  Jane shares all the details and some exclusive photography in “Fall of Senenmut – New Evidence from the temple at Deir el Bahri – Dr Andrzej ?wiek” and “A morning with Dr Andrzej Cwiek.”

If you are interested in learning some hieroglyphic grammar (or is that, grammar involving hieroglyphs?), check out Mummy’s Wrap, the online home of archaeologist Page Strong.  In particular:

• Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs: Phonograms
• Hieroglyphs: Determinatives
• Hieroglyphs: Ideograms

And yes, this will be on the exam.

Which came first, the mummy or the museum?  Is the newly-announced Akhenaten Museum a result of the Heretic King’s mummy having been recently identified, or did a previously planned Akhenaten Museum pressure the project to discover the king, whether they really did or not?  Kate Phizackerley, the reincarnated Theban sage who runs News from the Valley of the Kings, continues to assess the emperor’s new clothes.  Read “Akhenaten Museum Planned” for the latest.

I am a sucker for anything about Abydos, and Su Bayfield has posted an entry from her travel journal, Reflections in the Nile, which has me especially nostalgic.  I have only had the privilege of spending less than a day at this very important heritage site, and man, if I knew then what I know now.  Su’s photography is especially enjoyable, but she has a shot of the Osirion you have got to see.  The water tables are especially low, and the shot captures the entire structure.  See it at “The Abydos Pilgrimage.”

A couple of stories leap out from Vincent Brown’s Talking Pyramids.  In “Photos of the Re-Wrapping of Anonymous Man,” Vincent offers some slideshows of the four-day process of re-wrapping a Roman Period Egyptian mummy by a team from the Brooklyn Museum back in February.  Vincent also has some video clips of the event in “Re-wrapping a Mummy Live in the Lab!”  In “Burial Chamber with Pyramid Texts Discovered” and “Deciphering the Pyramid Texts of Behenu” Vincent covers the recently discovered burial chamber of Queen Behenu at Saqqara.  Vincent is doing his own translation of some of the Pyramid Text, which he offers for our perusal.

Copyright by Keith Payne, 2010.  All rights reserved.