Overview
- A paper published July 17 in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology reports that re‑examined skeletons from Dahshur show pronounced muscle‑attachment development and asymmetry the authors link to repeated archery and weapon handling.
- Researchers measured entheseal robusticity and X‑rayed bones to identify healed fractures, infections, and a shared cluster of rare spinal defects that the team says points to family relatedness.
- The study notes cleanly healed ribs, hand and foot fractures that the authors interpret as evidence the royals had access to high‑quality medical care for the period.
- External specialists caution the conclusions are not definitive because most skulls are missing, there are no contemporaneous control samples, and entheseal changes can result from age, genetics, or other repetitive tasks.
- The authors are seeking approval for DNA and stable isotope analyses to confirm kinship and diet, and the find highlights longstanding curation problems after the remains were excavated in the 1890s and only rediscovered in the Egyptian Museum in 2020.