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Due to my own web article about the "Younger Lady" possibly being Nefertiti, have received some personal messages from people who are suddenly convinced that the mummy "The Elder Lady" is Nefertiti because of Susan James' article in KMT. I have been told "Can't you see that the face of the mummy corresponds nearly exactly to the sculpture of Nefertiti in the magazine?"

My private response has been that almost any Amarna age bust would appear "nearly exactly" to the mummy's face--and so one can't place one's hopes too much on such a premise without other arguments to bolster such a perceived resemblance. I did the same thing in "Do We Have the Mummy of Nefertiti?", which is at http://www.oocities.org/Athens/Crete/3102. I think my article made as many valid arguments as that of James for the "Younger Lady" to be Nefertiti, instead. However, the ultimate conclusion must be, in both cases, "not proved".

One of the problems with attempting to identify the mummy of the "Elder Lady" is that the two photographs we commonly view of her are not the best. A corpse, after all, isn't too amenable to posing for pix. The full-face photo seems to have been taken while looking up the mummy's nostrils and the other, a study in fore-shortening (artist's term), makes the lady's right jaw seem the closest thing to the camera while her nose and forehead look diminished as they gradually recede into the distance.

Added to that, few people have seen the diminutive royal woman since the beginning of the 19th Century, as she remains in KV35, where she was found, in a walled-up side chamber. The ZDF television people (Germany), who had read my web article about Nefertiti and wanted a look at the Younger Lady, got permission to film in there--but the chamber was walled-up again with the three mummies in it, afterward. None of the mummies have been sampled for DNA. Nevertheless, at some point in the past, someone snipped a lock of hair from the "Elder Lady's" head and ascertained her blood type--which is O.

One of the difficulties in identifying a member of the 18th Dynasty is that the family is inbred. There are common traits--such as the square jaw mentioned by Susan James ("Younger Lady" and the mask which surely must be that of Aye have it, too) and the over-bite so prevalent in the females. Yes, the Elder Lady possesses both of these features. But the square-jawed Nefertiti she is not, in my estimation. One thing about that blown-up photo in KMT is that it enabled me to do the best tracing of the head so far--which you have seen or can view at http://www.oocities.org/scribelist/elderlady.html and decide for yourself what you see there.

If the "Elder Lady" had been actually photographed in profile, it would have been easier to see that she has the aquiline nose of most of her family members--something the ancient portraits of Nefertiti appear to lack. Looking long and hard at the photos of the 18th Dynasty royal mummies has led me to conclude that the "Elder Lady" most resembles, feature for feature, King Thutmose IV. Of course, even if the "Elder Lady" happens to be Queen Tiye, she is still likely to be a relative of Menkheperure. To believe that the Chief Wife of Amenhotep III was a commoner who had no blood connection to the royal family is absurd. In the Egyptian tradition, a pharaoh would have taken a head wife who was no less than a cousin on the maternal side. Lesser wives and concubines could come from anywhere, as we know. Since Thuya, the mother of Queen Tiye, had a son who was Second Prophet of Amun and this title was promised by King Ahmose I to the descendants of Queen Ahmose-Nefertari forever, there is a chance that Thuya was related to this great lady by blood.

Even though a lock of hair found in the tomb of Tutankhamun (and enclosed in a coffinette bearing the names and titles of Queen Tiye) matched the hair of the "Elder Lady" microscopically, a problem has been seen in the relative youth of the mummy at death. In other words, for her to have been Queen Tiye, there would have had to have been a long co-regency between Amenhotep III and Akhenaten--plus the queen would have had to have been wed to her husband as a pre-pubescent little girl. All of this is possible, of course. Also, I think the "EL" does resemble some portraits of Tiye--but here we are going on visual impressions again. Moreover, Tiye is represented as a very short person when standing near her son, Akhenaten--while Nefertiti is not. Sometimes Nefertiti is shown nearly as tall as the king. The "EL" measures less than five feet in height. If by chance the microscopic comparison of the hair samples proves in error, due perhaps to the unguent poured on the sample from Tut's tomb, my next choice for the identity would be Queen Tio--Thutmose IV's mother. Since she was the wife of Amenhotep II, her being in his tomb, KV35, stands to reason. She has the same forehead as both Amenhotep II and his son (commented upon by Elliot Smith), so she can be a relative of the pharaoh, her husband,as well. Still, that wouldn't explain what Queen Tio's hair was doing in a small case marked "Queen Tiye", with her special glyphs.

The "EL" was a beauty, no question, but Nefertiti--I doubt it. We are at an impasse when it comes to identifying the royal mummies with more certainty and can make no further progress until the Egyptian authorities decide to put science ahead of politics--or whatever fears and doubts they might harbor. I would like to see KMT should do a piece about the DNA testing and why it was halted--allowing the public to indicate their feelings and make responses to the Egyptians about this process, which potentially affects Egyptology in so many ways, not being allowed to go forward.