For over three thousand years, the physical remains of Egypt’s most successful female pharaoh were completely lost to history. Following her death around 1458 BCE, Queen Hatshepsut was subjected to a damnatio memoriae—a systematic campaign by her successor to erase her name from monuments and history. As her statues were smashed and her obelisks walled up, the location of Hatshepsut’s tomb and mummy faded into a profound archaeological mystery.
When early Egyptologists began excavating the scorching canyons of the Theban necropolis in the 19th and 20th centuries, they uncovered a confusing trail of evidence. Instead of a single, undisturbed resting place, researchers found a royal sarcophagus without a body, a minor tomb containing an unidentified female corpse, and a puzzle that would take over a century—and the advent of modern DNA and CT scan technology—to finally solve.
The story of how Hatshepsut was buried, lost, and eventually rediscovered is one of the most fascinating forensic investigations in the history of ancient Egypt.
Where Is Hatshepsut Buried? (The Tale of Two Tombs)
To answer where Hatshepsut was buried, archaeologists had to piece together a confusing puzzle involving multiple locations.
Before she ascended the throne, she had a traditional cliff tomb constructed for her role as the Great Royal Wife. However, once she took the unprecedented step of crowning herself as a king, she required a burial site fitting for a pharaoh. She commissioned a massive, labyrinthine sepulcher in the eastern Valley of the Kings, known today as Tomb KV20.
KV20 is architecturally unique compared to other royal burials. It features an unusually long, descending, and curving tunnel that plunges over 210 meters into the bedrock. Many Egyptologists believe this sweeping curve was intentionally designed so that her burial chamber would align directly beneath her magnificent mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari, located on the other side of the mountain cliffs. In a brilliant move to further legitimize her reign, Hatshepsut expanded this tomb and transferred the mummy of her father, Thutmose I, to rest alongside her.
Yet, when KV20 was finally cleared and investigated, the burial chamber was a scene of ancient devastation. The tomb had been severely robbed in antiquity. Investigators found her empty red quartzite sarcophagus, a second sarcophagus she made for her father, and her canopic chest, but Hatshepsut’s mummy was completely missing.
The mystery deepened just a short distance away. Nearby, a small, unadorned tomb—designated as KV60—had been discovered. Inside, excavators found the mummies of two women. One was resting in a coffin inscribed for Hatshepsut’s royal wet nurse, Sitre In. The other was a heavily unwrapped, unidentified female mummy simply left lying on the rough stone floor, her left arm positioned across her chest in a classic royal pose. For nearly a century, this anonymous mummy in KV60 was largely ignored by the academic community.
Who Discovered Hatshepsut’s Tomb? (And Was It Robbed?)
The initial entrance to KV20 was noted by early explorers as far back as the Napoleonic expedition in 1799, but its treacherous, rubble-filled corridors deterred serious exploration for decades. It wasn’t until 1903 that the famous British archaeologist Howard Carter—the man who would later discover the tomb of Tutankhamun—fully cleared and excavated KV20.
Working under the sponsorship of wealthy American antiquities collector Theodore M. Davis, Carter faced grueling conditions. The descending tunnels were completely choked with thousands of years of flood debris, limestone rubble, and hardened bat guano. The air was so toxic and hot that Carter’s workers could only dig in short shifts.
When Carter finally breached the burial chamber in 1904, the answer to the question of whether it had been robbed was painfully obvious. Yes, Hatshepsut’s tomb had been thoroughly looted in antiquity.
The original burial goods, the gold, and the mummies were completely gone, leaving only scattered fragments of stone vessels, her magnificent but empty red quartzite sarcophagus, and the canopic chest meant to hold her internal organs.
During the end of the New Kingdom, widespread tomb robbery forced the priesthood of the 21st Dynasty to secretly empty the Valley of the Kings. They relocated the bodies of many great pharaohs—including Hatshepsut’s husband, Thutmose II, and her stepson, Thutmose III—to a secure, hidden mountain cache known as DB320 (the Royal Cache). However, when DB320 was discovered in the late 19th century, Hatshepsut’s mummy was notably absent.
For decades, scholars assumed her body had been completely destroyed by ancient tomb robbers or by Thutmose III’s agents during the systematic erasure of her reign. They had no idea she was waiting quietly just a few meters away in the unassuming KV60.
How Was Hatshepsut’s Mummy Identified? (The Missing Tooth)
For over a century, the anonymous, heavy-set mummy found on the floor of KV60 remained largely ignored. It wasn’t until 2007 that a major forensic investigation, led by Dr. Zahi Hawass and a team of international experts, finally cracked the cold case using modern medical technology.
The breakthrough did not come from the mummy itself, but rather from a small, unassuming wooden box.
Decades earlier, in the DB320 royal mummy cache, archaeologists had discovered a wooden box bearing Hatshepsut’s royal cartouche and her throne name, Maatkare. It was known to contain her mummified internal organs. During the 2007 project, researchers ran this wooden box through a high-resolution CT scanner. Inside, alongside a mummified liver, they discovered a single, broken human molar tooth. A critical piece of the tooth’s root was missing.
The team then turned their CT scanners to the unidentified female mummies of the Eighteenth Dynasty, including the anonymous woman from KV60 who had been brought to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
When they scanned the KV60 mummy, they found a missing tooth in her upper jaw. The remaining root in the mummy’s jawbone was a perfect, microscopic match for the broken molar found in Hatshepsut’s inscribed wooden box. The puzzle pieces fit together perfectly.
Through this undeniable forensic link, the academic community reached a stunning conclusion: the forgotten woman left on the floor of a minor tomb was none other than Queen Hatshepsut, the most powerful female pharaoh of ancient Egypt. The priests of the 21st Dynasty had likely moved her body to the tomb of her wet nurse (KV60) to hide her from the tomb robbers who had plundered her original resting place in KV20.
What Does Hatshepsut’s Mummy Look Like and Where Is It Now?
The CT scans of the KV60 mummy not only solved the mystery of her identity but also provided an incredibly detailed medical profile of the great queen. The forensic analysis stripped away the idealized, god-like depictions carved on her temple walls and revealed a deeply human portrait of Hatshepsut in her final days.
At the time of her death, Hatshepsut was a woman in her early to mid-fifties. Unlike the slender, athletic pharaoh depicted in her royal statuary, her mummy reveals that she was heavily overweight and suffered from a litany of painful chronic conditions. She had severe diabetes, profound arthritis, and terrible dental decay (which explains the missing molar).
More intriguingly, the scans revealed the likely cause of her death: metastatic bone cancer. Archaeologists had previously found a small cosmetic flask inscribed with her name that was initially thought to contain perfume. Chemical analysis later revealed that it contained a skin lotion—likely used to treat a chronic skin condition like eczema or psoriasis. Tragically, the lotion contained a highly carcinogenic substance (a tar or creosote derivative). Medical experts believe that applying this toxic lotion to her skin for years caused the aggressive bone cancer that ultimately killed her.
Where is Hatshepsut’s mummy today?
For decades, her mummy was housed in the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, Cairo. However, in April 2021, Hatshepsut was one of the 22 royal mummies transported in the spectacular “Pharaohs’ Golden Parade.” Today, her mummy is permanently displayed with the utmost respect in the Royal Mummies Hall at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) in Fustat, Cairo.
Study Guide & Quick Answers
Was Hatshepsut’s tomb ever found?
Yes. Her original royal tomb, designated as KV20, was fully excavated by Howard Carter in 1903. However, the tomb had been completely looted in antiquity, and her mummy was missing from her red quartzite sarcophagus.
Where was Hatshepsut’s tomb found?
KV20 is located in the eastern Valley of the Kings. It features a unique, sweeping layout that plunges deep into the bedrock, originally designed to align with her mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari on the other side of the cliffs.
Where was Hatshepsut’s mummy found?
Her mummy was not found in her official tomb (KV20). Instead, she was discovered in a minor, unadorned tomb known as KV60, lying on the floor next to the coffin of her royal wet nurse. She was officially identified in 2007 using a broken tooth.
Where is Hatshepsut’s mummy now?
After being housed in the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square for decades, Hatshepsut’s mummy was moved in 2021. She now rests permanently in the Royal Mummies Hall at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) in Cairo.
Further Reading
To deepen your understanding of Hatshepsut’s burial, the Valley of the Kings, and the forensic science used to identify her mummy, consult these academic resources:
- Hawass, Zahi, et al. Scanning the Pharaohs: CT Imaging of the New Kingdom Royal Mummies. American University in Cairo Press, 2016. (The definitive medical and forensic breakdown of the 2007 identification project).
- Ryan, Donald P. Beneath the Sands of Egypt: Adventures of an Unorthodox Archaeologist. Harper, 2010. (Ryan rediscovered and re-examined KV60 in 1989, laying the groundwork for the mummy’s eventual identification).
- Ikram, Salima, and Dodson, Aidan. The Mummy in Ancient Egypt: Equipping the Dead for Eternity. Thames & Hudson, 1998. (Essential context for understanding royal mummification practices and the 21st Dynasty cache relocations).
- Reeves, Nicholas, and Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Valley of the Kings. Thames & Hudson, 1996. (Provides detailed architectural maps and histories of both KV20 and KV60).