Egyptologists are having high hopes that the burial plot that they found in July 2017, near the tomb of the Pharaoh Ay, is the resting place of Tutankhamun's wife Ankhesenamun. If they are able to locate her body, then they will clearly know what made her name disappear from historical records abruptly.
Ankhesenamun, one of the lost queen of Egypt along with Nefertiti and Hatshepsut, was believed to be the third of six known daughters of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten, born in the 18th dynasty. However, being a princess didn't mean she had a fairy tale life, rather historians confirmed it was marred by turbulence.
The tragic princess
Ankhesenamun was forced to marry her own father Akhenaten as he wanted to father children with all of his three eldest daughters. Though one of the sisters died during childbirth, princess Ankhesenamun didn't face such consequences. However, she was married off to Smenkhkare (King Akhenaton's co-regent). It was after Smenkhkare that the princess married Tutankhamun.
Probably this was only the happy time of Ankhesenamun's tragic life. However, the royal couple could not produce any heir to the throne as none of their children survived infancy. After King Tutankhamun died at just 18 years, Ankhesenamun, who was 21 then, was married by her grandfather Aye to secure his claim to the throne.
Speculations
Researcher Zahi Hawass's team announced that their radar scans have detected the presence of an entrance to a tomb at a depth of five metres in the Valley of the Monkeys, which is located beside the Valley of the Kings. It might be Ankhesenamun's tomb as it was likely then that queens and kings are buried in nearby places and the location of it is very close to the tomb of Aye - her last husband.
Identifying tombs and finding mummies has not always been rewarding for researchers as the news of Tutankhamun's curse caused furore when some of those who had entered the tomb died mysteriously.
Till now, if it hasn't clicked to our readers why the name Ankhesenamun sounds so familiar, it is time to recollect the 2001 American action-adventure fantasy flick 'The Mummy Returns'. It had its female antagonist named Anck-su-namun. Though there is no similarity between these two, we cannot help but picture actress Patricia Velásquez's face for the said Egyptian princess. Nevertheless, Anck-su-namun was also betrothed to the Pharaoh.
