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Pages in this article: the discovery | the coffin | the physical remains | further examinations | reconstructions and conclusions Further examinations
Further investigation dismisses Smith's theory on the grounds that Frölich's Syndrome causes infertility and stunted growth. We are certain that Akhenaten had at the minimum six daughters, not counting any children he may have had with his consorts or his harem at the time of his death. We also know that this individual stood 5ft 7ins, [21] which was some 2 inchs taller than the national average. Smith's conclusion that he had examined the remains of Akhenaten caused a furore, not only with Davis but also with several Egyptologists who refuted his claim, expressing that the king could not have instigated his religious reforms in such a short lifespan. In an effort to reconcile Smith’s findings, his successor, Professor D E Derry re-examined the remains in 1931.
Moreover, Derry compared the cranial measurements of Tutankhamun and the unknown individual, proclaiming there was such a close correspondence between them that they were brothers, or at least closely related. The "story" concerning the identity of the occupant should have come to a close. But over the course of the next 32 years, heated scholarly debate ensued as to whom the coffin belonged to and to the identity of the individual. Such was the scholarly 'outfall' that eminent scholars, including Cyril Aldred, Sir Alan Gardiner, Professor H W Fairman and Dr A T Sandison lobbied the medical profession for the remains to be "re-examined using all the resources of up-to-date techniques and knowledge." Harrison's re-examinations - December 1963
Aldred comments that Harrison "sets entirely new standards in medical examination of the royal mummies." [24] Harrison's re-assessment was carried out with total impartiality, ascertaining the sex, age, stature and bodily proportions of the individual, purely on medical evidence alone. He published his extensive findings in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 52, 1966. The report goes into minute anatomical detail, recording all the measurements taken. If the individual was Akhenaten and did bear a true likeness to the depictions of him, the skull should have appeared as Elliot Smith stated: "Both the brain case and the face reveal certain important peculiarities … as is often associated with Frölich's Syndrome." [25] However, Harrison concluded: "the cranial dimensions demonstrate it to be a long, broad, high male skull, with a large circumference and of average facial breadth and facial height … this skull does not differ significantly from the crania of other eighteenth dynasty skulls." [26] He goes on to say: "none of the cranial sutures in the vault of the skull show any signs of fusion … indicating an age of 22 years or less." [27] The most conclusive assessment for the age at death was "that the third molar in the right maxillary was not fully erupted … there was no bony tuberosity behind either of maxillary third molars ... this would place the skull within the early part of the age period of 18 - 22 years." Professor Harrison's findings also cast doubt on the person suffering from some medical condition like Frölich's syndrome stating that: "the pelvis is undoubtedly male, certainly not "roomy" ... The transverse diameters are quite inconsistent with a person in life possessing wide hips." Harrison carried out serological (blood type) tests, which confirmed Derry's results that a first-order (brother-to-brother or father-to-son) relationship existed between Tutankhamen and the KV55 mummy. One would imagine that the case had now been proven.
Next: reconstructions and conclusions >>
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Derry's conclusion endorsed Smith's findings, in that the remains were those of a male of no more than 23 - 24 years of age at death. However, in the course of his examinations, Derry rebuilt the damaged skull and in direct contradiction to Smith, concluded that the skull was in fact platycephalic, deriving from Greek meaning 'broad-skulled': "the very reverse of the shape produced by hydrocephalus."