So true, Ljubica. But there's more. The press simply sensationalizes stuff and takes cautious scientific claims as fixed truth.
I did some digging this morning to find the paper and here are a couple of telling quotes:
... In addition to Tutankhamun, 10 mummies possibly or definitely closely related in some way to Tutankhamun were chosen for this 2-year project; of these, THE IDENTITIES WERE CERTAIN FOR ONLY 3.
Those three are not identified directly, but can only be assumed to be Amenophis/Amenhotep III, Tut, and the infant daughters of Tut.
Markers DYS393 and Y-GATA-H4 showed identical allele constellations (repeat motif located in the microsatellite allele reiterated 13 and 11 times, respectively) in Amenhotep (Ameophis) III, KV55, and Tutankhamun. ... Syngeneic Y-chromosomal DNA in the 3 mummies indicates that they share the same paternal lineage...
All this means is that they were related along the paternal line, it does NOT determine the exact relationship.
Hawass, desperate to have Amenophis IV/Akhenaten, has decided to claim that KV55 is identified when, in fact, that is not the case. In fact, if anything, the results suggest that KV55 is Smenkhare and the brother of Tut.
Next:
...{method of DNA comparison} yielded complete data sets for all 8 markers (they are only checking 8 markers here!) in 7 mummies: Thuya, Yuya, Amenhotep III, Tutankhamun, KV55, and both female mummies from KV35, but only partial data for both KV62 fetuses and the KV21A and KV21B mummies.
So, here's the breakdown of the mentioned mummies:
KV62 is Tut. Male, age 19.
KV46 is Thuya, Female, age 50-60, mother of Amenophis III's wife, Queen Tiye.
KV46 Yuya, Male, age 50-60, Father of Queen Tiye.
KV55 - This one is a problem. In this paper, it is reported that this mummy clearly is related to Tut and Amenophis III. In the table in the paper he is now identified as Akhenaten and his age given as 35-45. This sudden bit of rather startling news is explained in a tiny footnote:
The mummy in KV55 was previously thought to be in his 20s when he died. However, our new computed tomography investigation revealed that he lived to be much older.
Yeah, right!
You see, a few years back when Zahi Hawass' was battling the theory of a woman who believed that the mummy in KV55 was Nefertiti, he
posted the following on his blog:
The KV 55 skeleton was found in a royal coffin whose face had been ripped away and its inlaid cartouches removed. The lid of the coffin was broken, and the mummy had been exposed to significant damage and decay and is now an incomplete skeleton. The Originally identified as female, subsequent studies have consistently proved that the bones were male. Previous researchers have concluded that the skull, like Tutankhamun’s, is dolicocephalic, and that two men share a blood group. Most of the studies of this skeleton have put the age at death in the early 20s, although one team of researchers concluded that the bones were that of a man of about 35. Based on the age at death, the contents of the tomb (which included objects bearing the names of kings Amenhotep III, Akhenaten, and Tutankhamun), many scholars think that the skeleton is Smenkhkare, a mysterious and ephemeral king, possibly Tutankhamun’s older brother, who may have shared the throne with Akhenaten in his last years and then succeeded him. Others, opting to believe the older age estimate, vote for Akhenaten himself, who would have been at least 30 when he died.
The results of the recent CT-scan show clearly that it is still too early to unequivocably identify the KV 55 skeleton. The EMP radiologist notes that the upper right wisdom tooth is unerupted, as noted by earlier studies, but argues that this is not a conclusive indicator of age. The most interesting finding is that the spine, which is slightly scoliotic, shows significant degenerative changes, suggesting an age of over 60. This is a significant new finding that needs further investigation; Dr. Hawass believes that a decision cannot be reliably made as to whether the body is that of Akhenaten, Smenkhkare, or someone else entirely.
I think that the un-erupted wisdom tooth is pretty conclusive. The genetic autoimmune disorders and other problems reported in the DNA study account for the accelerated aging of the spine.
There are images of Akhenaten before he took up with Nefertiti that show him with a perfectly round head - rather brachycephalic. The body in KV55 is, as noted above, a pronounced dolicocephalic skull.
In other words, the evidence suggests strongly that the body in KV55 is Smenkhare, the brother of Tut, and NOT Akhenaten. And, as the study itself says, the only thing that can really be concluded is that the three mummies - Amenophis III, KV55, and Tut - share paternal ancestry.
Moving on now.
KV35, Amenhotep III, male, age about 50 or more.
KV62 1 and 2, two fetuses, ages 5 mo and 7 mo, These are pretty firmly identified as the children of Tut. {Only partial data from DNA.}
KV21 A, female, age 25-40 no firm identity. {Only partial data from DNA.}
KV21 B, female, age 25-40, no firm identity. {Only partial data from DNA.}
Now, they say:
Repeated attempts to complete the profiles in the 4 latter mummies were not successful; however, we were able to replicate some of the results for the previous mummies more than 4 times in the second, independent laboratory.
They do not describe what results differed.
So, what did they do with this tiny bit of information????
Based on the partial Y-chromosomal information on the amount of autosomal half-allele sharing and family trio likelihood calculation, the most plausible 5-generation pedigree was constructed. We identified Yuya and Thuya as great-grandparents of Tutankhamun, Amenhotep III and KV35EL as his grandparents, and the KV55 male and KV35YL as his sibling parents.
Later in the paper they write:
...the KV55 mummy, who is most probably Akhenaten, father of Tutankhamun... The ... kinship is supported in that several unique anthropological features are shared by the 2 mummies and that the blood group of both individuals is identical.
In short, more like brothers...
This also reveals the fact that their DNA tests do not prove this at all though Zahi Half-ass is determined to make it so. He probably forced the other researchers to agree with this in exchange for him agreeing to let them get the DNA.
Anyway, because it is interesting I'll also add the following:
Tut suffered from cleft palate, mild clubfoot of the left foot, serious flatfoot of the right foot, only four toes on the right foot, and kyphoscoliosis.
Thuya, the mother of Queen Tiye, suffered from severe kyphoscoliosis, that is sideways curving and backwards hunching of the spine.
KV55 mummy suffered from cleft palate and scoliosis. None of the images of Akhenaten even remotely suggest that he suffered from these problems.
Amenophis III/Amenhotep III, father of Akhenaten and grandfather of Tut (though he may have been Tut's father with Nefertiti before she was handed off to Akhenaten) suffered from clubfoot.
KV35 Younger lady suffered from Scoliosis.
KV35EL, Queen Tiye (a lock of her hair identifying her was found in the tomb of Tut, by the way), suffered from mild scoliosis.
Both of the young royal ladies in KV21 suffered from scoliosis and clubfeet.
The majority of the paper is a distracting discussion of Marfan syndrome, and other illnesses identified in the mummies. But I hope you can see from this that this is NOT a done deal and there is a whole lot of prestidigitation going on here.
ADDED: What seems MOST likely from the Microsatellite markers evidence is that the mummies of Tut, KV55, KV35YL, are siblings.
The mummies of the two women in KV21 are interesting. Apparently, in 2010 DNA evidence was said to identify one mummy as the biological mother of the two fetuses preserved in the tomb of King Tutankhamun. That would mean that she could have been Ankhesenamun.
