King Tutankhamun Grandmother Statue UnEarthed

Alabaster Statue of Queen Tiye

At the obituary temple of Amenhotep III, an excavation mission excavated a beautifully carved statue of a woman which could be the grandmother of King Tutankhamum. The enormous statue was located towards the west bank orf Luxor which was the site of Thebes, the ancient city.

The archaeologist had stumbled on the alabaster state of Queen Tiye, accidentally while lifting some section of the colossus of King Amenhotep II which is said to be the first of its kind. Tiye is said to be the wife of King Amenhotep III and the grandmother of the young pharaoh Tutankhamun.

The extraordinary statue was discovered beside the right leg of the colossus of Amenhotep III at the time of exaction of Kom Al-Hittan which the archaeologist doubted that it could be a representation of Tiye. This unusual figure is said to be made from alabaster while all the other depictions of the queen which have been discovered till date have been carved from quartzite.

According to Dr Khaled El-Enany, Minister of Antiquities, it seems to be beautiful, distinguished as well as unique. Dr Hourig Sourouzian leading the excavations has commented that the statue is said to be in very good shape taking into account its age and has also maintained all its ancient colours.

Lion-Headed Warrior Goddess

As per the Ministry of Antiquities of Egypt, the researchers have been working on restoring the same. The Ministry had revealed that the German archaeological mission had exposed dozens of statues, earlier in the month portraying a lion-headed warrior goddess at the temple of Amenhotep III.

It is presumed that they had been arranged thousands of years back in order to guard the ruler from evil. The intricate arrangements of Tutankhamum family have been one of the greatest mysteries regarding the young king. The identity of his mother had been very elusive while that of his father was known to have been Pharaoh Akhenaten.

The DNA testing in 2010 had confirmed mummy that had been located in the tomb of Amenhotep II which was of Queen Tiya, the chief wife of Amenhotep III, the mother of Pharaoh Akhenanten and Tutankhamun;s grandmother.

A third mummy presumed to be one of the wives of Pharaoh Akhenaten was discovered to be a probable candidate as the mother of Tutankhamun though the DNA evidence portrayed that it was the sister of Akhenaten.

No Evidence in Archaeology/Philology

The analysis of 2013 showed that Nefertiti, chief wife of Akhenaten was the mother of Tutankhamun. But the work of Marc Gabolde, a French archaeologist had recommended Nefertiti was also the cousin of Akhenaten.

This incestuous ancestry could also be helpful in explaining some of the irregularities which the scientists found distressed Tutankhamun. Besides this he had suffered a deformed foot, a slightly cleft palate together with a mild curvature of the spine. His claims, however has been disputed by the other Egyptologists inclusive of Zahi Hawas the head of Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt.

 His research team recommended that the mother of Tut was like Akhenaten, the daughter of Amenhotep II and Queen Tiye. Moreover Hawass added that there has been `no evidence’ in archaeology or philology indicating that Nefertiti was the daughter of Amenhotep III.