PHARAOH’S MAGIC WAND? What Have DNA Tests Really Told Us About the Amarna Royal Family?
DNA is widely considered to be the ‘silver bullet’ that instantly solves the mystery of the identity of an anonymous individual. So, the DNA tests on Egyptian royal mummies were awaited with great excitement, in anticipation of the identity of Tutankhamun’s parents being uncovered, the identity of the mummy from KV55 being finally solved, and the question answered of whether the mummy ‘Elder Lady’ really was Queen Tiye. When the results were published they seemed to fulfil expectations, and indeed to have possibly also discovered Tutankhamun’s wife, Ankhesenamun, in an anonymous mummy. Then it was pointed out that the published results did not actually support some of the identifications published; and some DNA specialists expressed the very greatest scepticism as to whether such results could have been obtained at all. What is going on? Has DNA identified the royal mummies or not? P