An image of Nefertari, taken from inside her tomb. (Credit: The Yorck Project/Wikimedia) After years of speculation, researchers have proven that a pair of mummified knees found in Egypt's Valley of the Queens once belonged to Queen Nefertari, wife of Ramses the Great. The partial legs are all that remain of the legendarily beautiful Nefertari, who was buried in a lavish tomb during Egypt's 19th Dynasty, around the 13th century B.C. At some point after her death, robbers ransacked the tomb.
It was likely during this raid that her body was dismembered, probably to get at amulets and jewelry she was wearing. The robbers also smashed her sarcophagus and made off with most of the grave goods, leaving only some funerary statues and scattered items — and, of course, her famous knees. What happened to the rest of her body remains a mystery. The knees are enough, however, to convince ...
