When was queen hetepheres born

She then probably married Ankhaf , although it is also possible that Ankhaf's wife was another member of the royal family of the 4th Dynasty. A mark of her affection for Meresankh may perhaps be seen in the fact that Hetepheres II had her own mastaba in the eastern cemetery of Giza converted into a tomb for her daughter. She finally died early in the reign of Shepseskaf , the son and successor of Mykerinos and had thus witnessed the reigns of 5 perhaps 6, if she was born during the reign of Snofru kings of the 4th Dynasty.

The Ancient Egypt Site. She is depicted in this tomb with brilliant blond hair courtesy of a unique blond wig. She had a joint tomb with Kawab G and , but it is also possible that she may have been buried in a separate tomb G This site uses functional cookies and external scripts to improve your experience. Which cookies and scripts are used and how they impact your visit is specified on the left.

You may change your settings at any time. Your choices will not impact your visit. NOTE: These settings will only apply to the browser and device you are currently using. On the 9th of March, , while the leader of the expedition, George Reisner, was back in the US, the staff photographer noticed a patch of plaster where he was expecting limestone.

Under the direction of Ahmed Said, Reisner's head rais, they cleared the area and removed the plaster, revealing a deep shaft. They dug down 85 feet before reaching a masonry wall which, when penetrated revealed a jumble of grave goods including a white alabaster sarcophagus, gold encased rods used to frame a canopy or tent, gold, wood furniture, and more.

Using binoculars and mirrors, Battiscombe Gunn identified an inscription identifying Sneferu. But this, contrary to newspaper reports at the time, only meant that the owner of the tomb had lived during the reign of Sneferu. Reisner concluded that this represented a secret reburial, possibly because robbers had gotten into the original tomb. By April, he had identified the owner of the tomb as Hetepheres, wife of Sneferu and mother of Khufu.

In they gathered to open the sarcophagus only to find that it was empty. Reisner conjectured that Hetepheres had been originally buried near her husband's pyramid in Dahshur, but the tomb was broken into shortly after her burial. He thought the robbers had opened the sarcophagus, stolen the mummy with all its gold trappings, but had fled before taking the rest of the treasures.

Reisner proposed that the officials responsible for the tomb, in order to avoid his wrath, told Khufu that the mummy was still safely inside the sarcophagus. Khufu then ordered the sarcophagus and all the funerary equipment reburied at Giza, near his own pyramid. The exact sequence of events is still a mystery however. He conjectured that the mummy of the queen was removed from GX when the pyramid was completed and that some of the grave goods were left behind when the queen was reburied.