The Search for Nefertiti: The True Story of an Amazing Discovery

by Joann Fletcher

Book Overview

Her power was rivaled only by her beauty. Her face has become one of the most recognizable images in the world. She was an independent woman and thinker centuries before her time. But who was Egypt's Queen Nefertiti? After years of intense research, Dr. Joann Fletcher has answered the questions countless researchers before her could not. While studying Egyptian royal wigs, she read a brief mention of an unidentified and mummified body, discovered...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060585560
• ISBN13: 9780060585563
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 452 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Perimortem damage to both "younger lady" and teenaged boy

Good book in general, readable, and willing to challenge entrenched opinion. I don't know what Hawass' problem is, but from his past buffoonery, I don't really care either. For those who do, here's the "more daddy than mummy" link. http://www.cbc.ca/disclosure/archives/040113_nef/test.html The tone of the entire program hardly inspires confidence, and there's no reason to believe that mummy 61072 is not female. Hawass himself merits a book, if only to clearly document his disgraceful conduct as head of Egyptian Antiquities. For the time being, we'll make do with an article from the Times Online: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2099-1610673_1,00.html. Anyway, on to the book. Fletcher's central thesis is provocative enough (that 61072 is Nefertiti) but lost in the conflict was the extremely interesting observations that both the younger female and the young male (which she proposes was a prince who would have been Thutmosis V had he lived to assume the throne) had been hacked at with what Fletcher's colleagues (specialists in Egyptian military equipment of the time) believed were an axe (Thutmosis) and a metal dagger (Nefertiti). The wounds they observed were perimortem, and were not inflicted through the mummy bandaging (as there were no linen threads in them). This would rule out the damage being the result of tomb raiding. Fletcher backs off on this a bit (pg 374-5 of the hardcover edition) for the boy, allowing that someone might have been hacking at him with an axe to get at his burial jewelry, but leaves open the suggestion that Nefertiti was murdered. It's a fascinating thesis, especially in light of Brier's "Murder of King Tut." That the Amarna Age might have begun and ended in violence is an avenue that has not been sufficiently explored. There's really no way to prove the identity of these two mummies in the same way the Elder Lady has been identified as Tiye (by a lock of hair in a box found in Tutankhamen's tomb). And, unfortunately, Hawass is such a suffocating influence that further exploration by anyone other than Egyptologists willing to advance his theory du jour is not likely to happen. Why Fletcher's thesis should be such a threat to him, I don't know. Certainly his campaign of vilification is in no way in the spirit of genuine scientific inquiry. I give the book five stars because Fletcher advances her thesis, provides her proof, and takes us through the process by which she arrived at her conclusions. It's not an absolute declaration that Nefertiti has been found, no room for argument. It's simply a thesis, an idea, a possible identification. Why this rattles so many cages would be a good subject for a follow up book. RstJ

Excellent Book with Somewhat Misleading Title

Although the book's title implies a focus on Nefertiti, the great bulk of this tome is essentially on Egyptian ancient history focusing mainly on the Amarna period. There is a lot of information packed into this book - ancient Egyptian lifestyle, mummification, religion, politics, genealogy, archaeology, etc. The book is well-written in a most engaging style, thus making it difficult to put down. Of the book's nearly 400 pages of text, about 10-15% focuses on the present-day examination of a few mummies with the ultimate purpose of identifying them - in particular, a stab at identifying one of them as that of Nefertiti. This is a most exciting use of modern technology. Peppered with a few personal anecdotes on the author's pilgrimage into Egyptology, this book is a valuable addition to the literature on ancient Egypt. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in archaeology and ancient Egyptian history.

VERY GOOD

This reflect the views of Dr Joann Fletcher in such a way where it doesn't sound like "I told you so" or " Well Maybe" She is straight foward in her idea about Nefertiti and KV35. She doesn't beat around the bush nor does she comes out breathing fire.

The Search for Nefertiti

After I watched Nefertiti Resurrected on the Discovery channel I hoped that this book would be wrote. when I received my copy I did not want to put it down until i finished it. The author brought the 18th dynsity alive. You got to know the people and how thay lived and what that may have felt about the change in there lives . Great book, for anybody who loves history, even if you don't think it was Nefertiti's Mummy that was found. V. Cambron

Astonishing, Anecdotal Account

I loved the anecdotal nature of the book, the sense as you leaf from page to page that anything and everything may be coming your way. When Joann was a teen, for example, her aunt told her a story of World War II hijinks on top of the Great Pyramid. There had been a competition, Joann was told, in which her uncle and his army buds had participated. Each would mount the Great Pyramid and attempt to hit a gold ball off the Pyramid and clear its sides. None of them could do it, even the most vaunted of sportsmen. In this way Dr, Fletcher really helps us to visualize the vast scale of the Pyramids. She's no Ivy Compton Burnett when it comes to dialogue, but you do get the picture of a young woman who's deeply in love with archaelogy and with the romance of discovery. If the mummy in question turns out to be the legendary Nefertiti, then we will all have greater access to one of the most romantic figures of all time, one who had a great influence on 20th Century fashions. Think of Liz Taylor in Cleopatra! I am no expert on ancient Egypt but after reading this wonderful book I feel I have a better grip on the issues that surround archaeology at the present time, and you can't take that away from every book. This one is a lavish and thoughtfully produced history of two women reaching out to each other from across a distance of centuries and cultures.