The Egyptian authorities announced Wednesday that they have successfully found and identified the mummy of ancient Queen Hatshepsut, Egypt's most famous female pharaoh, which is believed to be "the most important find" in Egypt's Valley of the Kings since the discovery of pharaoh Tutankhamen in 1922.

Egyptian Culture Minister Farouq Hosni made the announcement at a press conference at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo Wednesday morning, which ended centuries' search for Hatshepsut's mummy thought to be lost forever.

An Egyptian archaeological mission found Hatshepsut's mummy inside tomb KV60 in the Valley of the Kings on Luxor's west bank, said Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawass, who is also leading the mission.

The identification of the mummy of the female pharaoh began last year, when Hawass carried out scientific research on four unidentified New Kingdom royal female mummies.

Three of them were stored in the Egyptian Museum and the fourth one was from the tomb KV60, which was originally discovered in 1903 by English archaeologist Howard Carter who became famous for his discovery of the tomb of teenager pharaoh Tutankhamun in 1922.

One of the two mummies in KV60 was left behind unidentified for decades in the tomb and it was brought to Cairo for testing and examination just two months ago, said Hawass, adding it is proved to be the mummy of Hatshepsut.

The other mummy from KV60, one of the four examined mummies, is believed to be that of Hatshepsut's wet-nurse, Sitre In.

The experts have earlier found a wooden box inscribed with Hatshepsut's throne name in tomb DB320 and it contains a tooth, which is a molar, in addition to the mummified viscera. It seems that of embalmers put into the box anything that came loose from the body during the mummification process of the queen.

The tooth in the box became the key to the riddle.

A CT-scan of the unidentified mummy from KV60 shows that it was indeed missing a tooth and the hole left behind and the type of molar that was missing were an exact match for the loose one in the box from tomb DB320, which is the scientific proof that the obese female mummy is that of Hatshepsut.

In addition, a first ever DNA lab has been set up in the Egyptian Museum in cooperation with the Discovery Channel, with a budget of five million U.S. dollars, to the study of ancient mummies.

DNA samples from Hatshepsut and some of her royal relatives were taken for research in a scientific way that is a less invasive technique than ones that had been used by previous researchers.

The Discovery Channel is to film a documentary, Secrets of Egypt's Lost Queen, which is about the story on Hatshepsut, in July.

Hatshepsut, daughter of Pharaoh Tuthmosis I who ruled from 1504 BC to 1484 BC, was the fifth pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of ancient Egypt.

Hatshepsut, believed to have served as a co-regent from about 1479 BC to 1458 BC and reigned longer than any other female ruler of an indigenous dynasty, is generally regarded by Egyptologists as one of the most successful female pharaohs of Egypt.

Source: Xinhua