An anatomist has claimed that two mummified foetuses found buried with Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun may have been his twin daughters.
According to a report in the Times, the scientist in question is Professor Robert Connolly, an anatomist who is working with Egyptian authorities on Tutankhamun's tomb. Connolly's preliminary tests on the mummified remains of the two still-born babies indicate that Tutankhamun may have fathered them both.
"The two foetuses in the tomb of Tutankhamun could be twins, despite their very different size and thus fit better as a single pregnancy for his young wife (Ankhesenamun). This increases the likelihood of them being Tutankhamun's children," said Connolly, who first studied the remains of Tutankhamun in the Sixties.
"I studied one of the mummies, the larger one, back in 1979, determined the blood group data from this baby mummy and compared it with my 1969 blood grouping of Tutankhamun. The results confirmed that this larger foetus could indeed be the daughter of Tutankhamun," he added.
"Now we believe that they are twins and they were both his children," he further added.
According to Connolly, a physical anthropologist at the University of Liverpool, "It is a very exciting finding which will not only paint a more detailed picture of this famous young king's life and death, it will also tell us more about his lineage."
