Unravelling the mystery of Egypt's forgotten FEMALE Pharaoh: Scientists reconstruct the shattered visage of Queen Hatshepsut

Daily Mail​

23-06-2025

Of all of ancient Egypt 's pharaohs, Hatshepsut is perhaps the most unfairly overlooked.
An early pioneer of 'girl power', as a young woman she made the unusual move of crowning herself king and co-ruled Egypt for about 20 years.
By the time of her death in 1458 BC, Hatshepsut had presided over her kingdom's most peaceful and prosperous period in generations.
According to legend, evidence of her success was soon erased or reassigned to her male forbears – with her statues shattered and destroyed.
But a new study now suggests that Hatshepsut was not quite as hated among her male successors as history has made out.
An expert at the University of Toronto thinks statues of Hatshepsut – who was king and queen at the same time – were only destroyed so their materials could be reused.
'Hatshepsut was a prolific builder of monuments, and her reign saw great innovations in the artistic realm,' Jun Yi Wong, an Egyptologist at the University of Toronto, told MailOnline.
'My research indicates that a large proportion of the destruction to Hatshepsut's statues was actually caused by the reuse of these statues as raw material.'
Hatshepsut ruled Egypt during the Eighteenth Dynasty, which is considered one of the most prosperous and powerful periods in ancient Egyptian history.
Her remains were found in Egypt's Valley of the Kings in 1930, although they were not formally identified until 2007.
Despite her successful reign lasting two decades, history has largely forgotten Queen Hatshepsut, who was a powerful woman in a man's world. Many monuments of her were destroyed, so images of her represented as a woman are extremely rare.
But during the 1920s, excavations at the archaeological site of Deir el-Bahri in Luxor, Egypt found many fragmented statues of Hatshepsut.
In the century since, this damage has traditionally been seen as a violent act carried out by her nephew and successor, Thutmose III.
However, according to Dr Wong, many of the statues actually survived in relatively good condition, with their faces virtually intact.
This challenges the idea that the destruction was motivated by Thutmose III's animosity towards Hatshepsut.
To determine the true motivation behind the destruction of those that were found in fragments, Dr Wong examined unpublished field notes, drawings, photos and correspondences from the excavations in the 1920s.
Who was Hatshepsut?
Hatshepsut (c. 1505–1458 BC) was the sixth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt.
The daughter of Thutmose I, she became queen of Egypt when she married her half-brother, Thutmose II, when they were in their early teens.
After Thutmose II's death, Hatshepsut initially acted as regent for his young son, Thutmose III, before eventually declaring herself pharaoh and co-ruling Egypt with him.
By the time of her death in 1458 BC, Hatshepsut had presided over her kingdom's most peaceful and prosperous period in generations.
His findings, published in Antiquity, indicate that many of the statues sustained damage that was done in a specific, methodical way – not caused by Thutmose III.
Rather than being smashed haphazardly as if in anger, analysis suggested they were broken across their weak points – the neck, waist and knees.
Many of the strategically broken-up statues were reused in later periods as building materials and tools.
The historic practice, known as 'deactivation', was intended to neutralise any perceived worship or reverence towards a pharaoh that no longer reigns or exists.
As he explains, damage to the statues took place largely as a result of their 'ritual deactivation' and subsequent reuse rather than malicious destruction.
'In other words, this treatment does not necessarily denote hostility towards the depicted individual,' said Dr Wong.
As a result, we can assume Hatshepsut was treated in death more like her male predecessors than previously thought
However, Dr Wong does acknowledge that there was the campaign of persecution against Hatshepsut – and it's possible at least some of this destruction was intended to damage Hatshepsut's legacy.
'Unlike the other rulers, Hatshepsut did suffer a programme of persecution, and its wider political implications cannot be overstated,' he said.
'Yet, there is room for a more nuanced understanding of Thutmose III's actions, which were perhaps driven by ritual necessity rather than outright antipathy.'
American egyptologist and author Kara Cooney has called Hatshepsut 'the most formidable and successful woman to ever rule in the Western ancient world'.
The only daughter of Thutmose I, one of ancient Egypt's most successful warrior kings, Hatshepsut attained unprecedented power for a woman.
She was born into a society in which the crown was passed from father to son and royal children were expected to marry their siblings.
In an unprecedented move, Hatshepsut assumed the title of king and exercised the full powers of the throne as senior co-ruler with Thutmose.
She changed her name from the female version Hatshepsut – which means Foremost of the Noble Ladies – to the male version, Hatshepsu.
To cement her position as the first female ruler, she donned the traditional clothes, head-dress and even the false beard traditionally worn by male pharaohs of Egypt.
She made a name for herself due to being a female pharaoh, but also expanding trade, commissioning many building projects and largely keeping peace.
She is thought to have reigned with little opposition for more than two decades before dying, said to be from bone cancer, in around 1458 BC.
WHAT IS EGYPT'S VALLEY OF THE KINGS?
The Valley of the Kings in upper Egypt is one of the country's main tourist attractions and is the famous burial ground of many deceased pharaohs.
It is located near the ancient city of Luxor on the banks of the river Nile in eastern Egypt - 300 miles (500km) away from the pyramids of Giza, near Cairo.
The majority of the pharaohs of the 18th to 20th dynasties, who ruled from 1550 to 1069 BC, rested in the tombs which were cut into the local rock.
The royal tombs are decorated with scenes from Egyptian mythology and give clues as to the beliefs and funerary rituals of the period.
Almost all of the tombs were opened and looted centuries ago, but the sites still give an idea of the opulence and power of the Pharaohs.
The most famous pharaoh at the site is Tutankhamun, whose tomb was discovered in 1922.
Preserved to this day, in the tomb are original decorations of sacred imagery from, among others, the Book of Gates or the Book of Caverns.
These are among the most important funeral texts found on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs.