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Most of us really love Discovery
Channel’s series. When we have some spare time, we can switch to one of
Discovery’s shows and learn about many interesting things, especially that
science and technology evolved a lot in the recent period.
But, although the Discovery Channel
became an expert in making common people understand all kind of interesting new
theories and scientific facts, it also altered our vision on science. Most of
us now tend to think that scientists’ jobs are just for fun. Watching Discovery
also makes us tend to think that scientific tests and analyzes are made in just
seconds and that being a researcher is not difficult at all. But it is not
quite so and the most recent case of a 3,500-year-old mummy found by
archeologists in June proves this.
So, back in June, a team of
archeologists had found a mummy of a woman that seems to have lived about 3,500
years ago. After only one month, Discovery announced that the mummy was
identified as having been the most powerful Egyptian queen of that time,
although researchers are still analyzing DNA and other clues that could
establish the corps’ identity. The famous television channel hurried up with
this announcement, despite researchers’ current controversy.
Egypt is now running its own
ancient-DNA lab, in a major step forward for this country, which for almost two
centuries has seen foreigners take most of the credit for major archeological
discoveries here.
The preliminary results of the
DNA research indicate that the mummy is most likely, though not conclusively,
the female pharaoh Queen Hatshepsut, who ruled Egypt for about 20 years in the
15th century B.C. "I think the people at the Discovery Channel
went way too much 'CSI,'" said biological anthropologist Angelique
Corthals, referring to the popular “Crime Scene Investigation” TV series.
"They think you can pick up evidence at 2 p.m. and by 6 p.m. you get
results," added another scientist.
The mummy is now on display in a
glass case in the Egyptian
Museum’s royal mummy
room.
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