The Younger Lady is the common name given to an ancient Egyptian mummy found in tomb KV35 in the Valley of the Kings by archaeologist Victor Loret in 1898. The mummy is also known by the labels KV35YL ("YL" for "Younger Lady") and 61072. It is now displayed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. DNA tests confirmed that this mummy was the mother of Pharaoh Tutankhamun and the daughter of Pharaoh Amenhotep III and his Great Royal Wife, Tiye. Early ideas that the mummy was Nefertiti were later proven incorrect because Nefertiti was never called "King’s daughter" unless this mummy was actually a cousin of Akhenaten, not his sister. Egyptologists Zahi Hawass and Martin Bommas proposed that the mummy might be Beketaten, the youngest daughter of Queen Tiye and Amenhotep III and the mother of Tutankhamun.
Other researchers expressed doubt about this identification because DNA damage and inbreeding in the late 18th dynasty may have made some test results unclear. They suggested that the Younger Lady might instead be one of Amenhotep III and Tiye’s granddaughters, not their daughter.
Discovery
The mummy was discovered next to two other mummies in KV35: a young boy who died at about ten years old and is believed to be Webensenu, and an older woman identified as Tiye through recent DNA tests on Tutankhamun's family. The three mummies were found together in a small antechamber of the tomb of Amenhotep II. They were lying naked, side by side, and their identities were unknown at the time. All three mummies had been heavily damaged by ancient tomb robbers.
Description of the mummy
Dr. Grafton Elliot Smith studied the mummy during his examination of ancient royal mummies in the early 1900s. He noticed the body was a woman, not a man as previously believed by Loret and others. He thought the mistake happened because the mummy’s head was shaved. The woman’s body was measured to be 1.58 meters (5 feet 2 inches) tall. Based on the fusion of the iliac crest and her unerupted wisdom teeth, he estimated she was no older than 25 when she died. CT scans later suggested her age at death was between 25 and 35 years, based on the condition of her growth plates and the closure of her skull sutures.
There is a small oval-shaped hole (3.8 by 3 centimeters or 1.5 by 1.2 inches) in the front of the skull. The hole has sharp, beveled, and irregular edges, and bone fragments are inside the skull. These findings, along with no signs of healing or hardened bone, indicate the injury occurred after death. The skull contains her shrunken and dried brain and dura mater. No embalming material was found inside the skull, which is unusual because other late Eighteenth Dynasty mummies show evidence of brain removal. Linen packs were placed near her eyes, and additional packing was found in her right cheek and mid-face.
The mummy, known as the Younger Lady, has a large wound on the left side of her mouth and cheek. This wound, which also damaged part of her jaw, was initially thought to be caused by tomb robbers. However, a 2003 examination by a team from the University of York and CT scans from The Egyptian Mummy Project showed the injury occurred before death. The wound affected her cheek, left maxillary sinus, alveolar process, and part of her jaw. There is no evidence of healing. Missing facial bones and a resin-treated linen pack placed over the wound support the idea the injury happened before mummification. Researchers believe the injury was fatal, possibly caused by a heavy object striking her face. Some experts, like Hawass, think it was accidental, such as a kick from an animal, while others, like Ashraf Selim, suggest it was deliberate violence. Julian Heath believes the wound was caused by an axe blow.
The woman is missing several teeth due to her facial injury, with one visible inside her mouth. Her upper wisdom teeth have not erupted, and her teeth show no signs of wear or alignment issues.
The front wall of her chest was damaged by ancient tomb robbers, creating a large hole. Her heart remained in place and is still visible. The diaphragm had two holes to remove her lungs. Her internal organs were removed through an incision (56 by 135 millimeters or 2.2 by 5.3 inches) in her left inguinal region. The incision was oval-shaped and gaping. The torso was packed with resin-coated linen fibers. A resin-treated linen pack was placed in her pelvis. The pelvic floor was open and covered with resin, possibly used to remove organs during mummification. This may be an example of perineal evisceration. Subcutaneous filling was found at the back of her right hip. Her pelvis has postmortem fractures, and her legs were damaged, with the front halves of both feet missing.
Don Brothwell noted a possible wound below her left breast, possibly a puncture or stab wound. However, this claim is not supported by photos.
The left arm of the mummy extends beside her body, with her hand over her left hip. The right arm was broken off near the shoulder, likely by tomb robbers. The break has gaping ends with no signs of healing. The missing right arm caused a debate among researchers. Two severed arms were found in KV35, and one was thought to belong to the Younger Lady. One arm was bent with a clenched fist, and the other was straight. Royal Egyptian women were often buried with one arm bent and one straight, with the left arm typically bent. Ashraf Selim compared the arms to the mummy’s left hand and found the bent arm too long and with different bone density. The straight arm matched in length and bone density, so it was likely the Younger Lady’s. The newly identified right arm has two breaks, one in the upper arm and one at the wrist, and the hand is missing.
The Younger Lady has a double-pierced left earlobe, and the right earlobe is damaged. Pierced ears were common among New Kingdom women, including royals and non-royals, so this does not help identify her. A wig found in KV35 could have belonged to her, but it is not conclusive. Supporters of the theory that she was Nefertiti pointed to the wig’s similarity to those used by Nefertiti, but wigs were common and cannot confirm the user’s identity.
Identity
There has been much discussion about who the Younger Lady was. When the body was first found, Victor Loret thought it belonged to a young man. Later, Smith examined the mummy and confirmed it was a woman. Smith believed she was part of the royal family and thought she lived around the same time as Amenhotep II.
In 1999, researcher Marianne Luban suggested in an online article that the Younger Lady might be Nefertiti. This idea was repeated in 2003 by Fletcher. DNA tests showed that this woman was the mother of Tutankhamun. The tests also revealed she was a full sister to her husband, the KV55 mummy, and that both were children of Amenhotep III and Tiye. This family connection makes it less likely that the Younger Lady was Nefertiti or Akhenaten’s wife Kiya, because no known records give either of them titles like “King’s sister” or “King’s Daughter.” The possibility that she was Sitamun, Iset, or Henuttaneb is also unlikely, as these women were Great Royal Wives of Amenhotep III. If Akhenaten had married any of them, they would have become Egypt’s principal queen, not Nefertiti. The report suggests the mummy is more likely to be Nebetah or Beketaten, daughters of Amenhotep III who are not known to have married their father, though he had eight daughters with Tiye.
Some Egyptologists still believe the Younger Lady was Nefertiti or Kiya. However, Nefertiti was not Akhenaten’s sister. Some researchers think the DNA results could be explained by three generations of first-cousin marriages, not a single full-sibling marriage. No son of Nefertiti is recorded.
Identifying the Younger Lady as Akhenaten’s sister raised doubts, as none of his sisters are known to have held prominent roles in his court. Joyce Tyldesley suggests that the Younger Lady and the KV55 mummy might be full siblings and descendants of Amenhotep III and Tiye, but not their children, but their grandchildren: Queen Meritaten and Pharaoh Smenkhkare (who would be the son of Akhenaten and Nefertiti in this theory). Kara Cooney thinks it is unlikely that Nefertiti was Tutankhamun’s mother or that the Younger Lady was Akhenaten’s sister. Instead, she suggests Akhenaten may have fathered Tutankhamun with one of his daughters, Meritaten or Meketaten, which would explain the DNA evidence of inbreeding.
On the other hand, Juan Antonio Belmonte notes that while it is genetically possible the Younger Lady was Meritaten, it is unlikely. If Lady KV35YL was a daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, she would have inherited all her father’s genetic traits from her grandfather, Amenhotep III, and none from her grandmother, Tiye. This would be a 1 in 8 chance. Additionally, Nefertiti would have passed on her genetic traits from her parents, Yuya and Tuya, which would confirm she was their granddaughter. However, this scenario is less than 6% likely, making it improbable. It is more likely that Lady KV35YL was a daughter of Amenhotep III and Tiye.
Assuming the Younger Lady was a daughter of a pharaoh (Amenhotep III), a full sister and probable wife of a second pharaoh (Akhenaten), and the mother of a third pharaoh (Tutankhamun), she does not seem to have been a prominent figure during her lifetime. As of the 2010s, no inscriptions, reliefs, or statues dedicated to her have been found. The tomb of Tutankhamun, KV62, contains items from his life and reign, but none mention his mother. This contrasts with other influential mothers of pharaohs, such as Tiaa (mother of Thutmose IV), Mutemwiya (mother of Amenhotep III), and Tiye (mother of Akhenaten), who were well-known. It seems likely that Tutankhamun never had a king’s mother during his reign, suggesting she died before he became king. This supports the idea that the Younger Lady was a minor wife or concubine of Akhenaten who died before his son’s rise to power. Willeke Wendrich agrees, noting that Egyptian pharaohs often had multiple wives, leading to competition among their sons for the throne.
Belmonte argues that the man buried in KV55 should be identified as Smenkhkare, who was the son of Amenhotep III and Tiye and the brother-husband of the Younger Lady. He believes this would explain why little is known about the Younger Lady despite being the pharaoh’s wife, as she may have been overshadowed by his chief queen, Meritaten, or she may have died before he became king.
Facial reconstruction
On February 7, 2018, The Younger Lady was shown in the seventh episode of the fifth season of Expedition Unknown, titled "Great Women of Ancient Egypt." Based on the belief that the mummy might be Nefertiti, a team led by Expedition Unknown host Josh Gates used the preserved remains, modern technology, and artistic skills to create a reconstruction of what The Younger Lady may have looked like wearing royal clothing and jewelry. The bust was made by French paleoartist Élisabeth Daynès.