History paints a very specific picture of ancient women, especially royalty. At museums, we often see them portrayed in fine clothing, lounging in sunlit palaces, and living lives of leisure. It’s rare to see or hear of them fighting in battles or hunting game.

For generations, when archaeologists uncovered weapons tucked inside the tombs of mummified Egyptian princesses, they brushed off their presence as mere decoration. Historians presumed that the daggers and bows found in their burial chambers were simply symbolic tokens, something meant for the afterlife. 

Now, with the help of modern technology, we know this was an unfortunate assumption. 

A mistake that ended up rewriting history

During 1894 and 1895, a group of mummies and other ancient artifacts were excavated from the Dahshur funerary complex in Egypt. The findings were catalogued, but (for reasons no one can determine) six of the mummified bodies were moved and later stored, unmarked, in the basement of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Over a century later, museum staffers rediscovered the bodies. Quickly, a team of scientists at the University of Beni-Suef decided to take a fresh look at these long-forgotten remains. The group used modern bioarcheological tech and methods during their examination. 

What they uncovered was remarkable and revolutionary. It shattered how historians had viewed royal daughters of pharaohs past. 

Their bones told a story that modern science couldn’t ignore

Led by bioarcheologist Zeinab Hashesh, the research team analyzed the........

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