Egypt to test fetuses for Tutankhamun family tree

Reuters

AP: In this undated photo released by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2008, one of the two mummified fetuses found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun in 1922 is seen during preparations for a DNA test in Cairo, Egypt. Egyptian scientists are carrying out DNA tests on two mummified fetuses found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun to determine whether they are the young pharaoh's children, Egyptian antiquity authorities said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Supreme Council of Antiquities)

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian scientists are doing DNA tests on stillborn children found in the tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun in the hope of identifying their mother and grandmother, who may be the powerful queen Nefertiti, Egypt's chief archaeologist said on Wednesday. British archaeologist Howard Carter found the mummified fetuses when he discovered Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922. Archaeologists assume they are the children of the teenage pharaoh but their mother has not been identified.

Many scholars believe their mother to be Ankhesenamun, the boy king's only known wife. Ankhesenamun is the daughter of Nefertiti, renowned for her beauty.

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