Some scholars suggest this mummy could be the first son of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye, who died as a youth; Prince Thutmose. However, this has not been verified as yet and this young male remains unnamed.
The mummy of a young prince is for an adolescent boy found between the mummy of Queen Tiye and her daughter (The Younger Lady) in Tomb KV35.
As you can see, this young boy has the hairstyle present which Egyptologists associate with youth and rather appropriately call the ‘side-lock of youth’; a bald head and long plaited hair growing only from the crown of the boy’s head.
His youth is obvious as he was noticeably smaller than the two adult females and interestingly he has a bald head with one section of long hair (brown wavy tresses).
This distinguishable way of shaving the head was typical of the ancient Egyptian style for children and adolescents, dubbed by Egyptologists as the ‘side lock of youth’ and can be seen in many reliefs and statuettes across the entire Dynastic age.
There are at least two possible suspects for his identity, one being the young Prince Thutmose. Prince Thutmose was the eldest son of Queen Tiye and Amenhotep III who died as a youth and thus, his brother Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) became heir and king of Egypt.
Thutmose is most famous for his adoration for his pet cat Ta-Miu, leading to him having a personal sarcophagus built for the ‘little mewer’ he loved so much.
(The sarcophagus for Ta-Miu is now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 30172. Read more and see pictures here).
Photograph from Tombs. Treasures. Mummies., Dennis C. Forbes, 1998, 2015.
Written by Catherine Christina (Egyptology Certificate/Diploma student at Manchester University)
