Evidentiary Archaeology: Akhenaten Identified by CT and DNA - LexiLine Journal 537

Tutankhamun and "Where the Great Akhenaten Lies" : Asharq Alawsat Newspaper (English)

Zahi Hawass reports on the great discovery made regarding the identification of Akhenaten among the mummies of Egypt, where it appears quite clearly from the Hawass statements that Akhenaten has been convincingly identified, writing inter alia:

"At a press conference for international media figures held by the Supreme Council of Antiquities last Wednesday at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, I announced that important [archaeological] discoveries had been made that shed more light on the dynasty of the golden pharaoh Tutankhamen. These discoveries marked the beginning of a new chapter in using modern techniques and advanced technology in the field of archeological discoveries."

Read the rest here.

As regards those remarks, Mark Rose, the executive editor at Archaeology Magazine in Tut: Disease and DNA News had previously - and typically for Egyptology - raised the question of whether the DNA and CT Akhenaten identification was accurate, since mainstream Egyptology had previously alleged that the mummy KV55 in question was only ca. 25 years of age, which would be much too young for Akhenaten [who I equate with King Saul]. The CT, however showed the age to be 45 to 55 years. How mainstream archaeologists could be that far off on the age of KV55 up to now is remarkable, but to be expected from Egyptology, where unproven hypotheses based on little evidence are rampant. It is equally puzzling, by the way, that the report which contains the most necessary information on the CT and DNA studies that we have been able to find online up to know comes from distant China, where a Xinhua article - Egypt reveals Tutankhamun's lineage, cause of death - writes (editor yan):

"According to the CT scan, Tutankhamun's [who I equate with Saul's son, Jonathan, "Young ATON"] father Akhenaten died at the age between 45 and 55, not at the age between 20 and 25 as previously thought."

To see the sometimes appalling historical handling of the "evidence" relating to KV55 prior to now by the Egyptological community - "evidence" is something the Egyptologists are not trained for in their studies, and their work shows it - read KV55 in the Valley of the Kings on the West Bank at Luxor by Mark Andrews at TourEgypt.net.

Thankfully, as Hawass correctly observes, Egyptology will now be much corrected over time through modern means, i.e. via genetics and more modern means of assessing artefacts.

I wrote about this new "evidentiary archaeology" some time ago.