Joann Fletcher

Dr. Joann Fletcher (born 1966 [cite LAF|id=nr96-44325] ) is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Archaeology at the University of York and Consultant Egyptologist for Harrogate Museums and Arts. She has undertaken excavation work in Egypt, Yemen, and the UK, and has examined mummies both on-site and in collections around the world. Dr. Fletcher writes for "The Guardian" newspaper and the BBC's History Online Web site, and has made numerous appearances on television and radio, most recently in Mummy Forensics, a programme on the History Channel.

In 2003 Dr. Fletcher took part in a controversial expedition to the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, where she claimed to have found the mummy of Queen Nefertiti, among the cache in tomb KV35. Her expedition was funded by the Discovery Channel, which also produced a widely-criticized documentary on her findings. Dr. Fletcher's conclusions have been dismissed by some Egyptologists, who claim that the mummy in question was a male as young as 16 years old, and that evidence used to support Dr. Fletcher's theories is insufficient, circumstantial and inconclusive. However, it is debatable that DNA sexing, one of the lines of evidence used, is either (i) reliable in the case of material which has been extensively handled or (ii) that DNA sexing is reliable in material of this age/temperature history.

It is perhaps also worthy of note that a professor of anatomy, Sir Grafton Elliot Smith, in describing the mummification of the Younger Woman stated “Both in this mummy and in the other woman (no 61070) the rima pudendi [female genitals] was widely open and plugged from the inside with linen,”. And again commenting on the Younger Woman said “… it takes no great knowledge of anatomy to decide that the excellently preserved naked body (Loret’s pl. XI and XIV) is a young woman’s”. [‘The Royal Mummies’, G. Elliot Smith, Duckworth, London, 2000, (reprint; first published in 1912), p.40-42]

This study, published in 1912, when the identity of this individual was of no great interest, is also in agreement with later scientific studies by radiologists and physical anthropologists. Given this clear anatomical evidence it could, perhaps, be argued that the use of DNA to determine sex, with all its inherent problems of contamination, is somewhat redundant.

Interestingly, Dr. Hawass identified the Younger Woman as a middle-aged woman, Mery-Re-Hatshepsut (also referred to as Hatshepsut-Merytre, Merytre Hatshepsut), the main wife of king Tuthmosis III. [‘Hidden Treasures of the Egyptian Museum’, Z. Hawass, American University in Cairo press, Cairo, 2002, p.xxii]

Dr. Zahi Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, subsequently banned her from working in Egypt because "Dr Fletcher has broken the rules".

However, since that time the objections raised by Hawass have been placed under significant scrutiny, as set out by a Times article which places the narrative above in context and can be read here: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/article521971.ece?token=null&offset=36

Publications

* (with George Hart) "Chronicle of a Pharaoh : The Intimate Life of Amenhotep III", 2000. ISBN 0-19-521660-1
* "The Egyptian Book of Living and Dying", 2002. ISBN 0-00-765375-1
* "The Search for Nefertiti: The True Story of an Amazing Discovery", 2004. ISBN 0-06-058556-0
* (with Delia Pemberton) "Treasures of the Pharaohs", 2004. ISBN 0-8118-4424-2

Notes & references

References

External links

* [http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/arch/staff/Fletcher.htm Joann Fletcher] (University of York staff page)
* [http://www.zahihawass.com/wc_no_discrimination.htm "No Discrimination"] – Article by Zahi Hawass on Fletcher's Nefertiti claims and the media's reaction.
* [http://www.cbc.ca/disclosure/archives/040113_nef/main.html Disclosure - Block Buster Sciences] - (CBC News Program)
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/article521971.ece King Tut tut tut] (Sunday Times article)
*worldcat id|lccn-nr96-44325