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  • Few civilizations have a more mysterious reputation than Ancient Egypt.

  • But the point of a mystery is to solve it, and over the years researchers have learned

  • a lot about the land of hieroglyphs, holy cats, and very strange walks.

  • But there's still a lot left to learn.

  • Here are some mysteries about Ancient Egypt that have yet to be solved.

  • How did King Tut die?

  • King Tutankhamun is perhaps the most famous of all the Egyptian pharaohs, particularly

  • since he was so young when he reigned and died.

  • And while his tomb has been thoroughly excavated, historians still don't quite know how he died.

  • "It's kind of humbling isn't it."

  • Sadly, any obituary that might've contained the answer has long since been lost to the

  • ages.

  • So all we've got is a few decent guesses.

  • In 2013, a group of UK researchers revealed he had significant damage to his ribs, along

  • with a broken leg, which led the team to conclude that Tut likely died from a chariot crashing

  • into the poor boy-king.

  • If cartoons are to be believed, those guys drove like maniacs.

  • But National Geographic pointed out other possibilities as well.

  • It could've been a kick from a horse that did him in, or possibly even a hippo attack.

  • Yet another theory was thrown into the mix by the head of Italy's Institute for Mummies

  • and the Iceman, which is the coolest job title ever.

  • They relied on 2,000 computer scans plus DNA testing of Tut's family to conclude that a

  • chariot accident was near-impossible.

  • Tut apparently had a clubbed foot and couldn't stand on his ownthe fact that the inside

  • of his tomb contained over 100 walking canes certainly supported that assessment.

  • "Thank you much, for the Walking Stick."

  • So, there's no way he was riding on a chariot.

  • The institute's Professor Zink thinks Tut instead died because he was the product of

  • incestsince his parents were brother and sisterso his already-weak body simply

  • gave out on him.

  • To further complicate matters, Tut suffered from malaria.

  • That alone could have killed him, but even Zink admits they have no way of knowing for

  • sure.

  • For now, the only thing ironclad about King Tut's death is that it happenedand that

  • he could host a pretty swingin' party.

  • "Haha."

  • Where is Alexander the Great's tomb?

  • Few people came closer to ruling the entire known world than Alexander the Great.

  • Yet, for such a famous guy, we have no idea where he's actually buried.

  • According to Archaeology Magazine, there was never supposed to be a tomb at all because

  • Alexander wanted to be thrown into the Euphrates River upon his death in 323 BC.

  • The reason was that he wanted followers to think he rose to Heaven to be with his father,

  • not his birth father, but an actual god.

  • His generals, however, chose to bury him instead, and he supposedly wound up entombed in three

  • different places.

  • "WHAT?"

  • First, he was buried in Memphis, Egypt.

  • Then, during either the 4th or 3rd century BC, he was moved to a new tomb, in Alexandria.

  • And Then!

  • Because... why not... the good people of Alexandria moved the body to a new location in ...Alexandria

  • - and that's the last documented time we know of the tomb, when Emperor Caracalla visited

  • it around 215 AD - almost 500 years after Alexander's death.

  • At some point, the tomb was likely damaged and vandalized, and now we don't have any

  • part of it to look at, including Alexander's body.

  • Identifying the Sphinx

  • For centuries, we knew next-to-nothing about the Sphinx.

  • Until 1817, all we could see was its head peeking out from layers and layers of sand.

  • But since then, we've learned that Pharaoh Khafre probably built it using hundreds of

  • paid laborers and a humongous chunk of nearby limestone.

  • Other than that, we still know very little about the Sphinx, including what it symbolizes.

  • Obviously it was built for some reasonwe just don't know what it is.

  • Some theorists believe it's meant to be a god from that era name Ruti, who was comprised

  • of two lions conjoined at the back and guarded the entrance to the underworld, but that's

  • just an educated guess.

  • For now, all we can do is enjoy the strange sight of the Sphinx that stands alongside

  • the great pyramid of Giza.

  • And how'd that nose break off?

  • Well, at least we can blame The Flash for that one.

  • What happened to Queen Nefertiti?

  • Aside from Cleopatra, there might not be a more famous Egyptian queen than Nefertiti.

  • For years, she ruled alongside Pharaoh Akhenaten, until she justvanished.

  • After 1336 BC, there are no records of what happened to her.

  • We don't even have her tomb or mummy, despite many supposed discoveries, so all we're left

  • with are theories.

  • One such theory is that she became a co-regent with Akhenaten and changed her name to Neferneferuaten.

  • Another idea isc that she changed her name to Smenkhkare and became a full-blown pharaoh

  • while disguised as a man.

  • "WHOA."

  • We may learn the answers to this mystery sooner than later.

  • In 2015, Egypt's minister of antiquities announced that an additional chamber (or possibly two)

  • may have been found in King Tut's tomb, and one of them may wind up being Nefertiti's

  • crypt.

  • If so, researchers could perhaps finally deduce when she died, and if any artwork in the crypt

  • indicates whether she took power in her own right, was brutally murdered somehow, or simply

  • vanished to a life of post-royalty anonymity.

  • If it worked for Bridget Fonda, it definitely works for an Egyptian queen.

  • Tomb of the unknown princess

  • In 1908, historians stumbled across a royal burial site no one had ever seen before.

  • And over a century later, we still don't know who was buried there.

  • The grave was discovered in Qurna, Thebes and contained the bodies of two people, with

  • coffins dated to around the 17th or 18th dynasties.

  • That means the bodies were at least 250 years older than King Tut and Nefertiti.

  • One mummy was a young woman the other was a child, presumably hers.

  • They both wore priceless jewelry made of gold and ivory, so clearly they were important.

  • Unfortunately, the inscription that might reveal who they are has been damaged beyond

  • legibilityleaving only "King's great wife" to be discerned.

  • There are a few possibilities, based on the queens of the time.

  • To name a few, she might have been Nubemhat, or the as-yet unidentified wife of Rahoptep.

  • We have far fewer, if any, clues about the kid's identityfor the time being, it's

  • looking to stay that way.

  • The pair are scheduled to be unveiled at the Museum of Scotland in 2018, once a new Egyptian

  • gallery is all set to go.

  • Maybe then someone will figure out who they are and the museum's guests will finally learn

  • the the truth behind these mysterious figures.

  • Or they can just gawk at the pretty jewelry.

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Few civilizations have a more mysterious reputation than Ancient Egypt.

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