Hatshepsut Khenmet-Amun (the United of Amun in Front of the Nobles) was quite a woman. The second-known woman to rule Egypt, she became co-regent, along with her young stepson, after her husband and half-brother Thutmose II died in 1504 BC. The arrangement lasted just two years before Hatshepsut claimed the title of Pharaoh for her own. For the next 18 years, she was one of the most successful of the ancient rulers, male or female. After her death in 1482 BC, her stepson, Thutmose III, whom she had kept from the throne, took power. In revenge, it is believed, Thutmose III ordered his stepmother’s memory erased from history.

He nearly succeeded.

Images of Hatshepsut and cartouches bearing her name were chiseled off walls. Her massive obelisks in the Luxor Temple were bricked over. Her statues were broken and buried in a pit. The queen’s name was removed from official histories and her mummified remains, except for one canopic jar, were lost.

A little more than a year ago, Discovery Channel contacted Dr. Zahi Hawass, the head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. They wanted to make a documentary about Hatshepsut that would hopefully end with the discovery of her mummy. The concerted effort between several teams of archaeologists and forensic scientists must have been one of the largest teams ever assembled to answer one specific question.

Much of the search for Hatshepsut’s mummy was the stuff of Indiana Jones films: descending into tombs reaching hundreds of meters into the ground, deciphering hieroglyphs, and finding lost burial places. What made this expedition unique was the reliance on forensic technology to identify previously unknown mummies.

Discovery Channel Archaeologist-in-chief Zahi Hawass checks over the mummy of Queen Hatshepsut (second from right). The mummy was discovered in 1093, but only identified two months ago using DNA.

The ancient Egyptians believed preservation of earthly remains was necessary for the soul of a person to continue into the afterlife. To protect what was left of the nobles and Pharaohs, they were often moved from one tomb to another after the secret of their location became known. During the moves, treasures and even identities were sometimes lost.

To facilitate the Discovery Channel search, the first-ever DNA laboratory for mummies was built in the basement of the Egyptian Museum, and CT (computerized axial tomography) scanning equipment was brought in on loan from Germany. Four unidentified female mummies who were believed to be royals were inspected, as well as known members of Hatshepsut’s family.

“What you can see from this story is that the CT scan and DNA can really reconstruct history, and you can see things never seen before,” Hawass says.

“The discovery of the Hatshepsut mummy is one of the most important finds in the history of Egypt,” Hawass notes. Indeed identification of Hatshepsut’s mummy is being billed as the most important event in Egyptology since the discovery of King Tutankhamen. The mere identification of a mummy seems to pale in comparison, but Hatshepsut isn’t just another mummy. She was one of the more remarkable rulers of ancient Egypt and certainly the most remarkable queen.

Amr Nabil Hatshepsut, shown here for the first time at the Egyptian Museum in Downtown Cairo, was identified using mitochondrial DNA extracted from a tooth.

Hatshepsut was the first woman to take the mantle of Pharaoh. To lessen the shock to her courtiers and subjects, she dressed as a man (even wearing a ceremonial beard) and all official documents refer to her using the male forms of verbs. Her reign, the longest in Egyptian history of any woman, was a time of peace and prosperity. She may have led a few military campaigns when she first ascended the throne, but these were most likely to secure trade routes. Trade flourished and she led expeditions to as far away as the east African empire of Punt.

Like any successful Pharaoh, she was also a prolific builder. Her funerary temple, Deir Al-Bahari, is one of the most impressive monuments in Luxor. She also commissioned numerous works around the temples of Luxor (which some believe she actually founded) and Karnak, where one of her two obelisks still stand, the highest in the world.

British archaeologist Howard Carter (who discovered King Tutankhamen) found Hatshepsut’s tomb in 1902. Nearly 20 years later, he returned to fully explore the discovery. Two sarcophagi were found inside the tomb, one for Hatshepsut and one for her father, Thutmose I, both of them empty.

Another tomb, discovered in 1903 right next to Hatshepsut’s, was dedicated to her wet nurse, Sitre-In. Two decaying coffins were found in the tomb; one was inscribed with Sitre-In’s name, the other was anonymous. Sitre-In was taken to the Egyptian Museum, the anonymous mummy was left and the tomb was resealed and forgotten.

In 1989, the tomb was rediscovered. The announcement drew little attention since it was not royalty and the mummy was unidentifiable. It wasn’t until the full-scale search for Hatshepsut was set in motion that anyone thought the find might be of some value.

“That is the only mummy I have removed from the Valley of the Kings,” says Hawass.

The mummy was taken to Cairo to undergo the long series of tests, joining three other mummies suspected to be the queen’s remains. The CT scans ruled out two of the four unidentified female mummies, one of whom it was discovered had died a violent and painful death. DNA testing was then performed on the remaining two and compared against members of Hatshepsut’s family.

Before the results of the DNA tests were received, the idea was hit upon to scan the box containing Hatshepsut’s canopic jar. The box was sealed shut, but the three-dimensional scan revealed a molar. Molars have two roots; the one in the box only had one. This made the task of matching it to a mummy that much easier. The scan of the mummies showed that the tooth did in fact come from one of them; the only mummy Hawass ever took from the Valley of the Kings.

“I am 100 percent certain that we have discovered the lost mummy of Queen Hatshepsut,” he declares excitedly.

But some Egyptologists, while acknowledging that the results are promising, have voiced fears that he rushed to conclusions. Mitochondrial DNA is the DNA passed from mother to daughter. Samples have been taken from Hatshepsut’s grandmother to be compared against the mummy now believed to be Hatshepsut. The initial results have been called promising, but conclusive proof takes months. When final, these results will prove beyond any doubt whether or not she is Hatshepsut.

The surviving texts from Hatshepsut’s reign often describe her as “the most beautiful woman in the land.” Dr. Hawass says the scans revealed this may be a bit of a stretch. “We have found that she was a very fat woman,” he relates. She was also a balding woman, only about five feet tall; she suffered from skin disease, cancer, probably diabetes, and of course she had rotten teeth.

The tooth that identified her, in fact, probably killed her. Dr. Galal El-Beheri, a professor of orthodontics at Cairo University, worked with the research team and identified the molar. Scans of the mummy show signs of an abscess where the tooth was pulled. By pulling the tooth, the ancient surgeons, according to Dr. El-Beheri, likely unleashed the infection that killed Hatshepsut.

The search for Hatshepsut has raised more questions than it answered. While scouring for clues that could lead to her whereabouts around her monuments and tombs, teams stumbled across love letters from her chief architect, bringing up questions about the nature of their relationship. Her daughter’s tomb was also discovered, as were indications that she was being groomed to take the throne after her mother.

CT scans created thousands of images of each of the mummies, revealing a trove of previously unknown facts about the ancient Pharaohs. Nearly all of the royals who were examined suffered from an unknown skin disease. The two Pharaohs who were examined, Thutmose I and II, both died violent deaths.

Of the many questions thrown on the table, one in particular has caught Hawass’ attention. The mummy believed to be that of Thutmose I died around the age of 30 from an arrow wound. According to historical accounts, Thutmose I lived past 50 and did not die in battle. “Which means this mummy shown in Cairo since 1881 is not Thutmose I,” he says excitedly. “I have to find Thutmose I.”

It’s a bit of a stretch to call the show about the identification a documentary. The attempts to reach dramatic effect are almost comical at points, and it was obviously edited for commercial television with strategically placed cliffhanger breaks slotted in — warranted or not. That being said, it still manages to be both interesting and informative and worth watching. And if Dr. Hawass does go on the search for Thutmose I, we can probably expect another entertaining production about this time next year. et