Dahshur Princesses’ Skeletons Complicate the Idea That Their Weapons Were Merely Symbolic
Source: “Bioarchaeological reassessment of Dahshur royal skeletal remains from the Late Middle Kingdom (c. 1850–1700 BCE)” — Frontiers ↗, 28 August 2026
Archaeonews Summary
Six sets of royal-period human remains from Dahshur, Egypt, have been re-examined more than a century after Jacques de Morgan excavated them in 1894–1895 near the pyramid complexes of Amenemhat II and Amenemhat III. The assemblage comprises King Hor, four named princesses—Ita, Khenmet, Itaweret and Noub-Hotep—and a sixth adult female whom the authors argue is most consistent with Princess Sathathormeryt.
Zeinab Hashesh, Ahmed Gabr and Roxie Walker reassessed the bones in 2020 through osteological profiling, X-rays, recording of trauma, disease and muscle-attachment changes, and FTIR-ATR chemical analysis of adhering embalming resins. The burials are assigned archaeologically and historically to the late Twelfth and early Thirteenth Dynasties, rather than newly dated by radiocarbon. FTIR identified juniper and, in most samples, frankincense. Preservation is incomplete, and most crania are no longer available.
Why It Matters
Most useful is the study’s attempt to connect bodies with grave goods. Several women were buried with bows, arrows, daggers or other regalia, and the authors argue that asymmetry and robust muscle-attachment sites fit repetitive upper-limb activity, including archery and weapon handling. That makes a purely symbolic reading of the weapons less comfortable. The same bones also record healed fractures, degenerative change and physiological stress, complicating any simple picture of a physically insulated royal elite.
Yet the martial interpretation should remain conditional. Entheseal changes—alterations where muscles and ligaments attach to bone—are influenced by age, sex, body size and other factors, so they rarely identify one activity by themselves. Likewise, recurring developmental traits may support biological relatedness, but the paper’s proposed kinship is not a genetic result; DNA and stable-isotope analyses are still planned. The study is peer-reviewed original research and unusually valuable because it recovers information from a neglected legacy collection, but its incomplete skeletons and missing crania set real limits on individual reconstruction.