Customer Reviews

Nefertiti Resurrected

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I just read that Joann Fletcher got banned from doing Egyptology in Egypt because she didn't follow Zahi "Zowie" Hawass' procedure of letting him announce everything. He does indeed appear in the video, making quite reasonable remarks about how there's no evidence in favor of Fletcher's thesis. Kent Weeks, excavator of KV5, also appears, suggesting that her claim isn't that farfetched, but that it will have to wait for better technology in coming years to rule it in or out. That is also reasonable.

The real reason to watch this video is to laugh and laugh and laugh. Fletcher has an unfounded belief that she has found the mummy of Nefertiti; she refuses to be convinced otherwise; she takes every single disconfirmation (which is every test performed for this video, other than her own subjective views about the mummy's hairstyle and ear piercings) in stride, getting more and more wild-eyed, and making one unsubstantiated claim after another.

Perhaps my favorite is her trip to the unfinished tomb of Akhenaten -- Fletcher stands at the head of what would have been the sarcophagus and claims that Nefertiti stood there and conducted the rites for her dead husband. Fletcher also refers to Akhenaten as "such a terrible politician" and grants Nefertiti entirely imaginary characteristics and abilities.

All existing evidence shows that Nefertiti predeceased Akhenaten. It's possible that her tomb was plundered shortly after her death and the end of the 18th dynasty, as a gold artifact bearing her name was found on the Ulu Burun wreck. There is a modern drive to turn Nefertiti into some kind of feminist anachronism and have her rule as a man. Fletcher appears to subscribe to that view, but gives no attribution for or reference to its originator.

A case can be made that Marianne Luban originated Fletcher's premise (see Luban's website, and the Archaeology magazine review of this video for more); according to Mark Rose, Luban started a lawsuit, but dropped it subsequent to seeing how badly received the broadcast was.

Two stars -- the video is a work of fiction being passed off as fact, but c'mon, you'll get to see the insides of tombs currently (and for the foreseeable) closed to the public, and have a really good laugh at the expense of Joann Fletcher and the Discovery Channel.

I saw this documentary when it originally aired on the Discovery Channel, and was more than a little disappointed. All the hype it got made me think they had FOUND Nefertiti, and that the discovery was the greatest thing since Tut himself. After spending two hours (excessive--it could have easily been one) waiting for the moment of groundbreaking acheivement--nothing more than speculation.

Essentially, there's a lady who claims to have found Nefertiti's remains stashed away in an out of the way place in the Valley of the Kings. The figure is deformed, the valuables gone, and only the damaged corpse remains, yet through various tests of sorts (which are very fascinating themselves), she is convinced that she has, indeed, found the lost queen. That's the claim, but it is really nothing more than speculation. There is some compelling evidence, sure, but nothing conclusive.

The sad thing is that several other major Egyptologists--the guy who found KV5 and the Egyptian in charge of approving digs in the Valley of the Kings--aren't convinced it's Nefertiti. It is possible that they don't want to admit that their work has been overshadowed, but I doubt that's the case. Essentially, this woman is convinced she's found Nefertiti, but she's about the only one convinced of that.

Again I have to say that this documentary was substantially less interesting than it was hyped up to be. It's a dig, maybe there's some cool stuff, that's it. Overall it was interesting, but certainly not worth owning unless you are into Egyptology in a big way. If you want a great documentary on recent finds, try Egypt: Beyond the Pyramids.

This whole video is based on twisted facts and outright lies. The author Joanne Fletcher has been banned from entering Egypt. Her career is over because of the absolute abuse of the facts. The mummy she identified as Nefertiti has been proven to be a teenage boy. The Discovery Channel should be ashamed of themselves.

Nefertiti Resurrected was originally a Discovery Channel production, and shares common flaws with other of their works--primarily, a tendency toward padding and sensationalism. As these shows are originally intended for television, they are designed with commercial breaks every 10 to 15 minutes with lots of back announcing for those who came in late or who suffer severe short term memory loss. It's extemely annoying, and in a DVD might well drive the viewer mad. The repetition is so constant that a half an hour could easily be cut from the show, perhaps even more, with no loss of content.

But nonetheless, the content of this production is, for the most part, superior. Anthropologist Dr. Joann Fletcher's work is featured throughout, and I felt fairly convinced by her evidence. She discovered a mummy which she believes is Nefertiti, and whether or not you agree, the sorts of evidence she gathers is diverse and fascinating. One of the highlights is the reproduction of Nefertiti's face from the skull x-rays using current forensic techniques deployed today in identifying modern corpses. Discussions of Nefertiti's role in Egypt, as consort and eventual replacement of the Pharoh Akhenaten, and ultimately her downfall, are well done--the evidence is placed in meaningful historical context. That some Egyptologists are not convinced by Fletcher's claims is not surprising and it's unlikely that a definitive answer will ever be known, barring the discovery of a tomb labelled in hieroglyphics: Nefertiti's Buried Here. But that's not really the point. The search itself, the questions raised, the methods used and the historical context are well worth your attention if you have any interest in the subject at all. I've got to say, though, that the ending is totally hokey in the worst of New Age ways...

I saw this on televison on the Discovery channel and was rather let down by it. It was so repetitive that they could have trimmed down the time from 2 hours to one hour

This movie is another good forensic analysis and very poor historical bases by discovery channel; the first one was "Rameses: a wrath of God or man? and found it a good forensic analysis for a fake story. The movie is based on the discovery of a mummy in the kings valley(a place serves as ancient Egyptians kings/queens tombs in the west side of the Nile River, upper Egypt). Dr. Joann, a professor of archeology did her best to prove that mummy is for Queen Nefertiti. The professor provided very refutable evidences to support support the claim that "Mummy X" is for the Queen Nefertiti. Moreover, the professor refused very clear evidences against her claim.
First, Nefertiti was the sole wife of Akhenaton and had already died, more accurately assassinated, before Akhenaten death. Second, more likely akhenaten married another wife after Nefertiti as some archaeological evidences indicated. Since Akhenaten left Thebes, the religious capital of ancient Egypt, and built his own city in Tal Al-Amerna. Thus, Nefertiti had more likely been buried in the Tel-Amerna NOT in Thebes(given that the sequences of the evidences that I described are correct)! Akhenaten refused the ancient Egyptian gods and forsaken the the ancient Egyptian religious traditions, especially those of after death. Thus, it is not acceptable that he contradicted himself and buried his wife according to rites that he refused! According to the movie, Akhenaten had been passed away first and Nefertiti became the Egyptian ruler after her husband! Also the movie showed that the second wife of Akhenaten during Nefertiti's life and considered that wife the mother of king Tautankh-(amun)_this means king tout was the son of Akhenaten!! what are the proofs for such claims!!!! Finally, the movie showed Nefertiti as a very powerful woman, even stronger than her husband Akhenaten(you can say similar to Queen Ti(the mother of akhenaten and the wife of Amenhope III) or Hatshibsout(the female pharaoh who ruled Egypt)!!!!!!. Again, what are the proofs for such interesting claims!! As Dr. Hawas, the Egyptian director of ancient Egyptian archeology, commented on the discovery of that mummy and said" nobody can affirm that Mummy X is for Nefertiti unless DNA fingerprint affirms such claim", we have to wait for such accurate test to confirm the identity of the mummy X. Also, the stories that the movie showed about the great queen Nefertiti require concrete evidences; Not just imaginations.! The movie mentioned repeatedly that Akhenaten was worshiping the sun disk. This is also very weak understanding of Akhenaten principles of the monotheism; the images on the wall of the ancient Egyptian temples show Akhenaten and his followers supplicating to the sun, this is true. However, the images also show the sun rays ending with hands. As if the images indicating that the sun Guide akhenaten and his followers to the real creator of the universe. you can return the the great hymn(written by Akhenaten himself to make sure that Akhenaten was not worshiping the sun disk itself!) Highly recommended for people interested in forensic medicine, NOT for those interested in real archeological discoveries!

In a subsequent TV show, Zahi Hawass demonstrated that Fletcher's main piece of evidence--that the mummy she claims is Nefertiti has one of its arms in a bent position used only for royal mummies--is fake; the arm that she claims proves the mummy is Nefertiti's has been shown not to belong to the body in question. While I agree that the ubiquitous Hawass is an egocentric jerk and probably has a personal ax to grind, he is not at all the only one who has found Fletcher's work to be worthless. Fletcher, who (according to colleagues) believes that she is the reincarnation of Nefertiti, drifts from one unfounded supposition to another--to cite only one example, she finds marks on the skull of her supposed Nefertiti mummy that would seem to indicate a tight wig had been worn. (And really, would wearing a wig actually cause your skull to change shape? Just how tight was it?) She then looks at one wig that has been preserved in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and immediately jumps to the conclusion that it was Nefertiti's wig. Yeah, right--in 3,000 years of Ancient Egyptian history, apparently one of the few wigs that survives just HAPPENS to have been Nefertiti's. (There are endless shots of Fletcher looking at artifacts or locations and gushing, "Oh, this is incredible," or "This is amazing," as if saying it makes it so.) The dramatizations are cheesy--why in Ra's name would they cast an actress with prominent freckles to portray Nefertiti? There are MANY extant portraits and sculptures of her, and not one shows her with a freckled face. And the laughable idea that she would have dressed up in her ceremonial robes, jewels and royal crown to go riding in her chariot like a tomboy is just another revisionist attempt to make Nefertiti into a modern feminist, brazenly defying conventions. The show also repeatedly makes the bogus claim that, according to ancient beliefs, Nefertiti's mummy must be found and identified before her soul can find eternal peace. Hogwash. All that the ancient Egyptians believed was necessary for eternal life was for their name to be remembered. Whether or not Nefertiti's mummy is ever identified, the fact is that her name has never been forgotten. The problem with a show like this is that, long after Fletcher's theories have been soundly discredited, the show lives on in DVD format, with the potential of a lot more people being misled into believing Fletcher's fantasies. I enjoy watching almost any video about Ancient Egypt, just for the visuals alone, if nothing else, but this one was infuriating and is not worth the time it takes to view.

I have actually enjoyed it.
interesting.
I guess we all look alike when we die.
All bones.
I wonder where Akhenatens body is?And what have they done with Nefertiti's REAL body.so many mysteries.
eventually it was a male not a female after the dna tests done in cairo.
I would watch it again.
just like watching a movie.

Katers beware...This is NOT the version that Kate narrated. In fact her name is not in the credits, nor does she ever appear in the DVD. Kate narrated the BBC, British version that aired on TV but not this one.

If you are an Egyptian lover than by all means add this to your collection but do not purchase it, hoping to add on to your Kate collection. Don't make the same mistake I did!

The DVD is good quality and the scientific background/exploration is very interesting but I agree the time frame could have been shortened. It was too long. I think an hour long special would have been much more effective.

Arrogant and vicious Zahi Hawas chooses yet to trash any opinion that doesnt fit the general line he choosed.

Dr Fletcher, who went on her first trip to the Valley of the Kings at the age of 15, studied Egyptology at University College London from 1984 to 1987 and specialises in human remains, which she has studied in museums around the world and on site in Egypt, Yemen and South America.

But her work has been rubbished by Zahi Hawas, the secretary-general of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, which authorises all archaeological expeditions to the country. He accused Dr Fletcher of telling a "pack of lies", insisting the mummy was that of a 15-year-old boy. Although British archaeologists have leapt to her defence, and her research team are standing by the results, Dr Fletcher has been banned from conducting further expeditions in Egypt.

Unsurprised by the controversy, she told the Discovery channel: "It's easy for people to take potshots at me. I've really put my head over the parapet for this one

Hawass refused to allow DVA analysis on the mummy. Very considerate move with someone who is concerned with the trueth.