Inside the Jc chamber of KV35, a cache of looted mummies from the New Kingdom was discovered, including the mummy known as the Young Lady and two others. This cache was deposited there by priests of the Third Intermediate Period. Next to the Younger Lady were the mummies of the Older Lady and a child. The Elder Lady has since been identified as Queen Tiye, the wife of AmenHoτep III, while the younger is believed to be Prince Tuthmose or Webensenu.

The three nude mummies found in the Jc side chamber of KV35, known as the Younger Lady, the Older Lady, and a child, were an anomaly in the New Kingdom looted mummy cache. Unlike other mummies in the cache, they had no wrappings or coffins and were not identified by labels or files. The Younger Lady, also known as KV35YL or 61072, is now identified by her accession number in the Cairo Museum.

Initially, the archaeologist who discovered the tomb, Loret, misidentified the Young Lady as male, possibly due to her shaved head, which was a common practice among Egyptian men. However, when G. Elliot Smith later examined the mummy, it was determined to be a female.

The Younger Lady was estimated to be between the ages of 25 and 35 at the time of her death and was 5 feet 2 inches tall and slim. Unfortunately, his mummy is in a state of serious disrepair, although some injuries were determined to have occurred prior to his death.

The only injuries that appear to have occurred before her death are on her face. Specifically, the Younger Lady has a large gash on the left side of her mouth and cheek, and is missing some of her facial bones. The embalmers had filled the wound with a roll of resin-soaked linen, indicating that the wound would have been fatal. However, the cause of the injury remains a mystery. Some scholars believe that it may have been caused by a heavy object striking his face, a kick from an animal such as a horse, or a carriage accident. There are also theories of intentional violence, such as being hit with an axe.

Most of the other injuries found on the mummy can be attributed to looters. There is a small oval shaped hole in the front of his skull and bone fragments were found inside the cavity. It appears that there was no attempt to embalm or remove his brain, which is now shrunken within his skull. His front chest wall is also almost completely missing, but his heart was left in place and remains visible in the chest cavity. The diaphragm has two holes where the lungs were removed during the embalming process. His torso was also filled with linen.

The Young Lady’s mummy had been the subject of many theories about its identity. G. Elliot Smith originally believed that she lived during the reign of AmenHoτep II, but more recent theories place her during the reign of AmenHoτep III and his son.

One of the most popular theories suggests that the Younger Lady is Queen Nefertiti, proposed by Marianne Luban in 1999. Luban based his theory primarily on the measurements between the mummy and the statue of Nefertiti, which were very similar in size. Luban also pointed to the shaved head, the imprint of a diadem on the mummy’s forehead, and the double ear piercing as evidence that the mummy could be real. However, not all scholars agree with this theory. The identity of the Young Lady’s mummy remains a mystery.

There have been many theories as to the identity of the Younger Lady, including proposals that she was either Queen Nefertiti or Sitamun, a daughter of AmenHotep III and Tiye. Joanne Fletcher supported the claim that the mummy was real, citing evidence such as the shaved head, the impression of a diadem on the forehead, and the double ear piercing. However, these factors are not definitive proof of royal status.

Dennis Forbes proposed that the mummy is Sitamun, based on the identification of the Elder Lady as Tiye and the young man as Prince Tuthmose. DNA tests conducted between 2007 and 2009 for the Cairo Museum’s Family of King Tutankhamen Project confirmed that the Younger Lady was the daughter of AmenHoτep III and Tiye, the full sister of the mummy found at KV55, and the King’s mother. Tutankhamun.

Based on the DNA results, scholars excluded Nefertiti and Kiya as possible daughters of AmenHoτep III and Tiye because they were never called the king’s sister or the king’s daughter. Sitamun, Isis, and Hennuttaneb have also been excluded based on their titles as their father’s wives, which would have given them precedence over Nefertiti had they become Akhenaten’s primary wife. This leaves Nebptah and Beketaten as possible candidates for the identity of the Younger Lady.

Despite her royal connections as the daughter, sister, wife, and mother of a king, the Younger Lady does not appear to have been a prominent figure during her lifetime. There is no record of inscriptions, reliefs or statues that represent her, and nothing found in the tomb of King Tutankhamen refers to her. Most of the evidence suggests that she died before her son ascended the throne and that she was an underage wife of Akhenaten. It is also possible that she was not married to Akhenaten at all, but belonged to his harem.

In 2018, the Young Lady’s mummy was featured in an episode of Expedition Unknown, titled “Great Women of Ancient Egypt”, where host Josh Gates and his guests believed the mummy to be Nefertiti, a belief still held by some academics. Using preserved remains, modern technology and art, they created a facial reconstruction of what the Younger Lady might have looked like, which was created by French paleoartist Elisabeth Daynes. However, there is still controversy surrounding the identification of the mummy and whether it is really Nefertiti or another royal woman.

Despite the fact that DNA tests had probably ruled out that the mummy was that of Nefertiti, the reconstruction of the Younger Lady was created with the presumption that it was Nefertiti. The reconstruction was controversial for a number of reasons, including the choice to depict the mummy as Nefertiti with her iconic crown and wide necklace.

One of the main points of contention was the color of her skin tone, which many felt was too light. Although the artists claimed to have based it on the skin tone of modern Egyptians, some people accused them of whitening. While some scholars agreed with this assessment, others noted that there would be a diverse mix of races in the royal harems, including Caucasians. However, it is generally believed that the Younger Lady would have had a darker complexion.

Despite the controversies, the artists claimed that the facial reconstruction was forensically accurate for the Younger Lady’s face.