Tchaenhotep (aka ThenHotep) pronounced Cha-en-hotep, is a female

Third Intermediate Period The Third Intermediate Period of ancient Egypt began with the death of Pharaoh Ramesses XI in 1077 BC, which ended the New Kingdom, and was eventually followed by the Late Period. Various points are offered as the beginning for the latt ...

mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay fu ...

. Currently, Tchaenhotep is on display at the

Kentucky Science Center The Kentucky Science Center, previously known as the Louisville Museum of Natural History & Science and then Louisville Science Center, is Kentucky's largest science museum. Located in Louisville, Kentucky, on "Museum Row" in the West Main Distr ...

in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The meaning of her name is 'the one who is content.' Tchaenhotep lived somewhere between c. 1069 BC and c. 664 BC. Tchaenhotep died at an early age between 25 and 35 years old. She was one of eight in her family to be buried in the famous

Valley of the Queens The Valley of the Queens ( ar, وادي الملكات ) is a site in Egypt, where the wives of pharaohs were buried in ancient times. It was known then as Ta-Set-Neferu, meaning "the place of beauty". It was most famous for being the burial site ...

. At the time of her death the valley was no longer used for royal burials. She was buried along with forty-two other mummies. Tchaenhotep's tomb was located by Italian Egyptologist

Ernesto Schiaparelli Ernesto Schiaparelli (; July 12, 1856 – February 14, 1928) was an Italian Egyptologist. Biography He was born in Occhieppo Inferiore (Biella). He found Queen Nefertari's tomb in Deir el-Medina in the Valley of the Queens (1904) and ...

in 1903. A dig that was commissioned by the Egyptian government. Schiaparelli was noted to have also discovered Queen

Nefertari Nefertari, also known as Nefertari Meritmut, was an Egyptian queen and the first of the Great Royal Wife, Great Royal Wives (or principal wives) of Ramesses II, Ramesses the Great.Dodson, Aidan and Hilton, Dyan. ''The Complete Royal Families o ...

’s tomb in the Valley of the Queens. The catalogue number 2-2-1 is painted on the bottom of Tchaenhotep’s coffin. The purpose was to help identify the burial site in which she was discovered. With only partial hieroglyphs available the mummy was named "Then-Hotep". At this time, the sex of the mummy could not be determined. Professor

Gaston Maspero Sir Gaston Camille Charles Maspero (23 June 1846 – 30 June 1916) was a French Egyptologist known for popularizing the term "Sea Peoples" in an 1881 paper. Maspero's son, Henri Maspero, became a notable sinologist and scholar of East Asia. ...

, a well-known and admired Egyptologist, hand-picked Tchaenhotep to be sent to the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. Tchaenhotep was brought to America for the

1904 World's Fair The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an World's fair, international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds tota ...

in St. Louis Egyptian exhibit. She was purchased after the exhibit by the Lt. Governor of Kentucky, Samuel Thruston Ballard to be put on display at the

Louisville Free Public Library The Louisville Free Public Library (LFPL) is the public library system in Louisville, Kentucky, and the largest public library system in the U.S. state of Kentucky. History Formation The Louisville Free Public Library was created in 1902 by an a ...

Museum. In 1937, a flood damaged many museum exhibits including the mummy, which was crushed under a piano. She was eventually restored to the viewing public. In 1977, the mummy was relocated to what is now Kentucky Science Center for display. In 2000, the mummy was placed in the museum's collections storage area until 2005. During that time, it was analyzed by the Louisville Baptist Hospital East, where it was discovered that the heart and brain had not been removed. The resulting studies were made public for the museums exhibition release entitled the "World Around Us".

References

* Ancient Egyptian mummies Louisiana Purchase Exposition {{Louisville-stub