Surprising secrets of Egypt's lost women
Thick, curly, strawberry blonde hair. Not what you'd expect on the head of a 3400-year-old mummy from Ancient Egypt. But when I watched as the lid of the golden coffin of Tutankhamun's great-grandmother was gingerly lifted, that gorgeous coiffure is what struck me first – after the smell.
Buried for 34 centuries in the Valley of the Kings, Tjuyu's coffin is still pungent with resin (plant extracts mixed with frankincense), used to help preserve the noblewoman's tiny body, and bitumen – to seal the coffin. Egypt's embalmers did a great job; the ancient matriarch is smiling on her journey to the afterlife – minus one mysteriously missing toe.
The Telegraph London
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