| Unknown Man C was examined by Professor Smith, an instructor in anatomy at Cairo University, and included in his work, "The Royal Mummies" [1912]. Smith opined that this individual had been mummified in a manner consistent with the method of the 18th Dynasty, particularly the time of Thutmose II and III. Most telling is that the genitals of this anonymous man had been treated in the exact same manner as had those of these two kings. Unknown Man C was the last person to have been deposited in the cache by the reburial commission that had the duty of storing the royal remains for safekeeping in the tomb of the family of Pinudjem II of the 21st Dynasty. However, not everyone included in the cache was royal, although that was the status of the majority of the mummies. Unknown Man C was found in the coffin of a wab-priest named Nebseni, but that the mummy could be that of Nebseni is no more likely than a mere wab-priest meriting inclusion with the pharaohs of Egypt and their families. [Regardless, the coffin is of the "white" type of the earlier 18th Dynasty.] Certain servitors close to the royals evidently were considered worthy of a space in the repository, such as Rai, a nurse of Queen Ahmose-Nefertari. From the era of the Thutmosid pharaohs the only one who seems to be missing is Thutmose I, the mummy once thought to be his now considered to be a mere prince, whose lopped-off hands once were arranged in the princely pose. That Unknown Man C could be that king is not likely, as his arms are not crossed over his chest, either, but merely hang at the sides, probably also excluding him from having been a royal prince. Prof G. Elliot Smith wrote of him: "Moreover, the features of this man present no likeness to any of his possible contemporaries among the royal family; a tall and vigorous man, 1m 739 mill. in height, must have seemed a very giant among them, and is hardly likely to have sprung from such a puny stock. The only possibility remains is that "C" was some high official. He has abundant black hair, freely streaked with grey. It is about 15 cent. long. The teeth are so much worn that they have all become molariform. There can be no doubt that this man was well-advanced in years...The skin of the body is a reddish brown colour, but that of the face is almost black. This man had a strong face with pronounced features; a big, heavy broad jaw of Armenoid type; prominent brow ridges and sloping forehead; broad cheeks, and a fairly prominent nose. On the whole his features conform, not to the indigenous Egyptian type, but to that of the alien, so-called Armenoid group." The ancestral origins of Unknown Man C cannot be known without DNA testing for haplotypes but, while Elliot Smith might have found him an anomaly among the modern Egyptian populace, other mummified remains and portraits indicate that this individual would not have appeared so out-of-place amid his contemporaries as Smith may have surmised, although he was on the upper end of the chart where height was concerned. Go to NEXT PAGE to see my reconstruction of his face. |