Overview
- The peer‑reviewed study published Friday, July 17, 2026, reexamined six royal skeletons from Dahshur and reports pronounced upper‑limb muscle attachments and asymmetry consistent with repeated archery and weapon handling.
- The remains were excavated in the 1890s, rediscovered in the Egyptian Museum in 2020, and include five women identified as princesses and one king, but many skulls and some bones are missing so identifications rely on 19th‑century labels.
- Researchers also found healed fractures, signs of infection and markers of metabolic stress, evidence the royals received advanced medical care yet still faced serious health challenges.
- Independent bioarchaeologists caution that enlarged muscle‑attachment sites (entheses) are not uniquely diagnostic of specific tasks without contemporaneous control samples and broader comparative data.
- If approved, planned DNA and stable‑isotope tests could confirm the suggested close kinship and dietary patterns and may reshape how scholars and museums interpret the social and ritual roles of elite women in Egypt's Middle Kingdom.