Scientists Just Opened Akhenaten’s Lost Tomb—And The Condition Of The Mummy Shocked Egyptologists
Deep in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, Tomb 55 has long been a mystery. When scientists recently re-examined its contents, they found a mummy in a shocking state: the skull was crushed, the face torn away, and gold jewelry bent tightly around the bones.
The violence done to the body and coffin made one thing clear—someone had tried to erase this king from history long after his death.
Tomb 55 was first opened in 1907 by excavator Edward Ayrton, working for American archaeologist Theodore Davis. The tomb itself was small and unfinished, with bare plastered walls and makeshift repairs showing it had been invaded and resealed in ancient times.
Inside, the team found the wreckage of a golden shrine, originally made by Akhenaten for his mother Queen Tiye, but with Akhenaten’s name hacked out and replaced. Other objects were scattered about, including ritual items, canopic jars, magic bricks, and seal impressions naming Tutankhamun.
The coffin was especially strange. It was originally designed for a royal woman, but had been modified with a false beard and kingly symbols. Every place where a name should have been was chiseled out, and the golden mask over the face had been violently torn away, leaving the mummy blind and nameless.
Inside, the body was in terrible condition—water damage had turned the lower half to sludge, bones were scattered, and fragments of gold were mixed with mud. The skull showed signs of deliberate attack, and a bent gold pectoral was forced around it.
Early examinations of the remains were confusing. Some experts thought the skeleton was female, but anatomist Grafton Elliot Smith determined it was a young man. The age estimates—early twenties—didn’t fit Akhenaten’s known history, as he ruled for 17 years and would have died in his mid-thirties. For decades, this led to debates about the true identity of the mummy.
Modern science changed everything. In the early 2000s, a team led by Zahi Hawass used CT scans to study the bones without further damaging them. The scans revealed that the mummy’s growth plates were fused, the teeth and joints showed wear consistent with middle age, and the spine had scoliosis. There was also a cleft palate and signs of bone disease—health issues common in Akhenaten’s royal family.
DNA tests compared samples from several royal mummies, including Tutankhamun and Akhenaten’s parents. The results showed that the Tomb 55 mummy was the son of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye, and the father of Tutankhamun, confirming the identity as Akhenaten.
Why was Akhenaten buried in such a damaged, anonymous tomb? After his death, his religious revolution was reversed, and his name and images were systematically destroyed. His grand tomb at Amarna was abandoned, and his body moved to the Valley of the Kings, stripped of royal honors. The violence against his remains was part of a campaign to erase his legacy.
Today, the battered mummy of Akhenaten stands as a symbol of both his controversial reign and the lengths to which his enemies went to destroy his memory. The scientific study of Tomb 55 has not only solved a century-old mystery but also revealed the tragic fate of one of Egypt’s most fascinating pharaohs.
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