Who's Your Mummy? Awaiting DNA Confirmation for First Female Pharoah(AP)

by Jordan Yerman | December 25, 2007 at 10:22 am

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Having previously declared their mummified find to be the remains of Hatshepsut, archaeologists are hoping that DNA testing will back up their claim... but results are slower to emerge than some forensics shows would have you believe.

Months after Egypt boldly announced that archaeologists had identified a mummy as the most powerful queen of her time, scientists in a museum basement are still analyzing DNA from the bald, 3,500-year-old corpse to try to back up the claim aired on TV.

Progress is slow. So far, results indicate the linen-wrapped mummy is most likely, but not conclusively, the female pharaoh Queen Hatshepsut, who ruled for 20 years in the 15th century B.C.

Running its own ancient-DNA lab is a major step forward for Egypt, which for decades has seen foreigners take most of the credit for major discoveries here.

It's time Egyptian scientists took charge, said Zahi Hawass, Egypt's antiquities chief who spearheaded the quest to find Hatshepsut and build the lab. "Egyptology, for the last 200 years, it has been led by foreigners."