Mummified Legs Belonged To Queen Nefertari, Scientists Confirmed

The mummified legs found in Queen Nefertari's tomb actually belonged to her, scientists confirmed.

When scientists broke open the tomb in 1904, they found a lavish burial capsule that has been looted for antiquity. Among the many pieces inside were three portions of mummified legs. The bones were assumed to be of Queen Nefertari's, one of the royal wives of Ramesses II who ruled Egypt from 1279 to 1213 B.C.

However, no one had ever conducted scientific analysis of the mummified legs until now. A new research confirms the bones belonged to a middle-aged or older woman who stood at about 5 feet 5 inches tall. Based on the findings of the researchers, the legs, now housed at the Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy, were indeed Nefertari's.

The legs are in three fragments and wrapped in mummy linens. The fragments contain a 30-centimeter femur bone, the patella or knee bone and part of the tibia. The scientists performed X-rays, radiocarbon dating and chemical analysis.

Based on the size and hints of arthritis in the knee, the fragments belonged to a woman about 40 to 60 years old when she died. The age is consistent with Nefertari, who is known to have died in the 25th year of Ramesses the Great's reign.

"The legs probably belong to a lady, a fully adult individual, of about 40 years of age. The materials used for embalming are consistent with Ramesside mummification traditions and indeed all objects within the tomb robustly support the burial as of Queen Nefertari," the researchers concluded in the study published in the journal PLOS ONE.

"The expertise that had gone into that mummification - even judging from the legs - the care, the attention, the wrapping, the materials employed; they are strongly suggestive someone of incredibly high status," Joann Fletcher from the University of York, co-author of the study, told The Guardian.

Together with the chemistry of the embalming agents and analysis of other objects found in the tomb, the researchers said that the evidence suggests the knees are indeed those of Nefertari.