Queen Hatshepsut's Large Breasts Indicate Obesity

Queen Hatshepsut, the most powerful of female pharaohs in ancient Egypt was obese, say scientists. Paleopathologist Bob Brier says "Breasts are one clear indication of obesity in female mummies. It is fairly simple: fat is deposited there, the skin stretches and that skin does not retract with mummification. So it is easy to see excess skin in the area of the breasts." Zahi Hawass, Egypt's secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, says Hatshepsut's breasts are "huge and pendulous" even for a mummy's.

Click here to view Queen Hatshepsut's headshot.

"How to Enhance Children's Imagination of the Past When Teaching History"

Mummy of Queen Hatshepsut Identified

The mummy of ancient Egypt's most powerful female pharaoh, Queen Hatshepsut, has been identified. The mummy has lain in the tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor where it was originally found in 1903. It was on the ground next to the sarcophagus of another female mummy, which later turned out to be that of the queen's wet nurse.

A few months ago, the unidentified mummy was brought to the basement of the Egyptian museum in Cairo for DNA testing. It was then that the mummy's DNA was matched with that of a tooth which was found in a relic box with Queen Hatshepsut's insignia. The tooth also fit perfectly in a gap in the mummy's jaw. The DNA also showed similarities with another mummy's previously identified as Hatshepsut's grandmother.

"How to Enhance Children's Imagination of the Past When Teaching History"

Lightbulbs in Ancient Egypt?

This is detail of relief art in the temple of Hathor in Dendera, Egypt. The bulbous object is said to represent a lighting fixture much like the incandescent lamp of today.