This mummy of a woman known as “Mummy KV60b” was discovered within a large (7ft) sarcophagus in Tomb KV60 of the Valley of the Kings. She is one of two female mummies discovered within the tomb, and her coffin was inscribed with the тιтle of “Great Royal Nurse, In” [Egyptian: wr šdt nfrw nswt In].
In recent years, she has been identified as Sitre-In, the wet-nurse to the female pharaoh Hatshepsut. The idenтιтy of the female she was buried alongside, known as “Mummy KV60a”, has also, in recent years, been identified (although some propose controversially) as the female pharaoh Hatshepsut.
Measuring at around 4 ft 9 inches tall, the mummy of Sitre-In is remarkably well-preserved, and is somewhat “internet famous” for what appears to be a smile upon her face. Also, noticeable is her long red hair cascading from the back of her head to just past her shoulders.
Hawᴀss, Z.A., Saleem, S.N. and D’Auria, S. (2018) Scanning the pharaohs: CT imaging of the New Kingdom Royal Mummies. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press.
Due to the preservation of the body of Sitre-In, it is evident that she was embalmed in a more than decent manner, and considering she was buried in the Valley of the Kings, it appears she had the status to be afforded with a well-equipped burial. This adds supplementary circumstantial evidence of her idenтιтy, as clearly, she was connected to royalty.
The mummy of Sitre-In was moved from Tomb KV60 by Edward R. Ayrton to the Egyptian Museum in 1906 and to this day, Sitre-In’s mummy rests in rather pristine condition with each finger still individually wrapped. Tomb robberies through the ages have damaged quite a bit of the linen wrappings, with much of the linen coverings once adorning her body being discovered in a heap at the foot of the sarcophagus of which the mummy of Sitre-In lay.
As of the writing of this article, not much information has been publicly produced about the mummy of Sitre-In. Unfortunately, we are not able to provide you with details of her age, cause of death or other intricate and interesting details, but please return in the future to see if any updates on Sitre-In have been released.
The Tomb
KV60 was first discovered by Howard Carter in 1903. However, its precise location was forgotten until it was rediscovered and re-excavated by Donald P. Ryan in 1989 as part of the Pacific Lutheran University Valley of the Kings Project. The tomb is situated about 11.3 meters in front of the entrance of the tomb of Mentuherkhepshef (KV19). It is a small, uninscribed tomb consisting of a rough, steep flight of stairs leading to a doorway blocked with large stones. The tomb has a straight pᴀssage approximately 8 meters long, which descends to a low, roughly cut chamber.
The tomb also had mummified food offerings, suggesting its use as a burial site. Additionally, there were signs of ancient robbery or dismantling, with pieces of funerary equipment like the face of a coffin showing damage where gold might have been removed.
Wet Nursing
Wet-nursing is a well documented ancient practice, of a woman breastfeeding another woman’s infant. From Ancient Egyptian times to Biblical scripture to the more recent royal and elite households of Europe, wet-nursing has been referenced. A wet-nurse would be used to feed a child if the mother was sick, unable to produce milk, to try and reduce infant death, or for other societal reasons, such as class and economic reasons, as well as it simply being “fashionable” to have a wet-nurse.
Wet nurses would have generally been hired by the wealthy, providing the biological mothers with more freedom, freeing up the biological mother to engage in other activities. This could have been a reason for wet-nurses for royal women, providing them with more time for royal duties, as well as more time to try and produce other offspring.
Wet nurses were chosen for their health, good milk supply, and sometimes their character or social standing, as it was believed that traits could be pᴀssed through the milk. This could explain why Sitre-In was buried with such prestige in the Valley of the Kings, something that suggests she was well respected. It is also proposed, rather controversially, that a close mother-to-child bond could occur between the child and their wet-nurse, which could also be some evidence as in to why the alleged mummy of Hatshepsut was placed alongside her wet-nurse.
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