3,200-Year-Old Hair Of Ramses II Returns To Egyptian Museum
CAIRO, Egypt, April 10, 2007
(AP) Locks of 3,200-year-old hair from the pharaoh Ramses II were unveiled at the Egyptian Museum on Tuesday, returned to Egypt after being stolen 30 years ago in France and put up for sale on the Internet.
The small tufts of brown hair were displayed alongside pieces of linen bandages and 11 pieces of resin used in the mummification of Ramses and his son Merneptah in a glass display case. Photographers mobbed the case as Egypt's culture minister and antiquities chief showed off the returned items.
The hair will eventually be put on display next to Ramses' mummy at the museum.
The theft of the items was discovered when the pieces of hair were put up for sale on a Web site last November by a French postman, Jean-Michel Diebolt, who gave the hair a price tag of $2,600.
Diebolt is the son of a French researcher who examined the 3,200-year-old mummy when it was brought to France in 1976 for treatment to stop the spread of a rare fungus. Diebolt is being investigated in France for allegedly possessing stolen goods.
Egyptian antiquities official Ahmed Saleh traveled to Paris early last week to retrieve the stolen items.
"It was wonderful mission. I felt very great when I had the lock of hair of Ramses II in my hand," said Saleh.
Ramses II, who ruled from 1270 to 1213 B.C., is one of ancient Egypt's most famous pharaohs, known for building some of its grandest monuments. Some believe him to be the pharaoh at the time of Moses.
Egypt's antiquities chief, Zahi Hawass, said the retrieval of the items was made possible by the strong diplomatic relations between Egypt and France.
Hawass, who has pressed several countries for the return of Egyptian antiquities, said the Internet is playing an important role in the search for other stolen relics.
"We open the Internet everyday, and the most important source you have are my spies," Hawass said. "I have spies all over the world, and those spies, they inform me every day of things you would not believe."
Hawass has sought _ without success _ the return of such finds as the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum, the bust of Nefertiti at Berlin's Egyptian Museum and a pharaonic mask at the St. Louis Art Museum.
But he said Egypt is awaiting the arrival of a statue coming from Spain, another artifact from Mexico and duck-shaped lamps that were stolen from Saqqara and will be retrieved from Paris.
If Egypt has its way, more artifacts will follow. Saleh added: "When one country gives you back your artifact, other countries will do the same." [Source]
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Posts: 1549 | From: California, USA | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Myra Wysinger: So Ramses II did'nt have red hair?
Judging by the hair samples, he did. But whether this was his natural hair color or simply artificial dye is another question.
And I believe that question has been answered on this board.. 3 times.
Posts: 26332 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
One would assume that a man of at least 80 years would have almost totally depigmented hair--grey hair! So when were those hair samples cut from Ramses's hair?
Posts: 5492 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
I thought they did microscopic analysis of his hair and found that he was in fact a red-head? Based on that I think they referred to him as a fair-skinned Berber type.. At least that's what's on wikipedia about his mummy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramesses_II#Mummy
-------------------- mr.writer.asa@gmail.com Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
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posted
I would say half Egyptian half Asiatic rather than berber but I guess thats what they meant by "type"
Posts: 271 | Registered: Feb 2007
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posted
So was Ramses really Asiatic or what? I've never heard an explanation for it other than that he was foreign or people simply don't address it. Microscopic analysis indicates a red head, I understand that this must of been extremely rare in Egypt but what are people's interpretation? It would be extremely frustrating if this has been covered before and therefore people feel unnecessary to address it for the sake of some new inquirer who can't find the relevant thread..
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
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The study in question is not universally agreed upon as being accurate. It is well knownt that Africans use henna to dye their hair and that this dyeing was the ancient "grecian formula" for those with gray hair, like Ramesses II. Henna turns the hair brown. This hair, if it IS Rameses hair, is either naturally brown or the result of dyeing. Either way, it is NOT blonde in appearance. Also, we are not sure if this was the hair used in the microscopic analysis or some other hair samples. It would be odd if it was this particular sample, because you need to get to the root of the hairs to get a more accurate measurement of color, supposedly, which is not tainted by age or chemicals.
Posts: 8901 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
^Thanx for the response..I'm perfectly aware that many Egyptians dyed their hair with henna and so did Ramses, this attests to the fact that his mummies' hair isn't gray and he died old. Yet and still, I'm at odds with the study indicating that he's a red head. I see no reason for them to fabricate the results as they did inspect the roots of his hair and found red pigment.
It is also claimed that his father Seti I was a red head (but I'm not sure if microscopy was done on him).
From the French analysis..
"Ramses Ild mummy’s hair is confined to a temporo-occipital zone which corresponds to an advanced stage of baldness.
Hairs are slightly crimped and show an oval cross-section, the great axis of which lies between 60 and 70 urn : they are specific of <« a cymotrich leucoderm >>"
They found Pheomelanin which makes up red hair, even though Pheomelanin doesn't necessarily equate to red head since it is found in dark hair, of course it's a signifier of redness of the hair so his hair in some way had to have red hue..
^^Would it be possible that Ramses simply was not your typical Egyptian type, because given his features and hair he seems atypical of the previous dynasty kings? Do you guys ever entertain that possibility, or no? I'm not sure how to objectively weave around the hair problem with out at least considering the possibility that he wasn't a typical case and could of been mixed.. I don't know, I thought somebody could point something out to me that I wasn't aware of, but redness of the hair is hard to reconcile with almost any indigenous group in Africa.
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
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posted
^I have no idea how you found those but thanx a lot, I'll just review these convos.. I guess I need to start looking harder for the relevant topics before I address an issue, I went back so many pages looking for this and just gave up, so thanx again, appreciate it....
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
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The issue of Ramses II's ethnic composition was raised here 11 months ago where it was generally acknowledged he had a slight AAMW strain from his mother's father. Supercar presented the results of X-ray examination.
For those who just want to go on and on and on about black and white, in the end there was nothing to suggest that Ramses II was white in any sense of a USA racial meaning. It's unlikely AAMW were white in the sense of modern day Greeks or Turks, or "white" in the sense of modern day Syrians or Lebanese who do have levels of European whiteness from Circassian and Slavic slave mothers, Crusader invasion fathers, and French colonial laisans of various sorts.
Besides that, Ramses II was not AAMW, just one of his four grandparents possibly was. As for African affinity, Sergi craniofacially ranked Ramses II with king Mtesa of Uganda.
posted
What about the one drop rule? And what was his grandfathers name on his mothers side? Lets not just accept mulatto Egyptians like African Americans love to accept mulattos in America. Got to be fair ya know.
Posts: 271 | Registered: Feb 2007
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posted
^^True.. That's pretty much the idea that I got after reading some of the informative posts in the links alTakruri provided, one thing that is apparent though is that he wasn't "Caucasian", he just happened to have different features than 18th dynasty kings and was probably mixed with Lybian or some Hyksos blood that was left in the Delta.. But yea, there was definitely no "White" (in the American sense) Ramses..
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
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posted
^^The point is that his bloodline was overwhelmingly African, with only the slightest chance of any AAMW (asiatic) blood. That puts it into proper perspective.
Posts: 8901 | Registered: May 2005
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