One faded photograph could prove Egypt’s first female pharaoh ruled like a king 5,000 years ago — and rewrite early Egyptian history

An old photograph, dating back over 70 years, may be the key to answering the long-debated question of whether an Egyptian queen once ruled as a king. Scientists are going back to a badly damaged photograph of a hieroglyphic inscription from the reign of Meretneith, a prominent female figure who ruled about 5,000 years ago. The original archaeological objects shown in the photograph are now missing. But using digital image-processing techniques, researchers say they have been able to extract details from the old image that were difficult to see when it was first published.

Their findings, published in Prague Egyptological Studies, suggest that two symbols on an ancient mud stopper may represent Meretneith. If that interpretation is correct, it would strengthen the case that she was not merely a regent for her young son but held the status of a ruler herself.

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The conclusion remains disputed. Another Egyptologist who examined the digitally enhanced image argues that the symbols refer only to King Djer and that Meretneith is not represented.

That disagreement makes the photograph particularly important. With the original objects unavailable, researchers are attempting to recover historical information from one of the few surviving records of them.

The forgotten photograph hiding a royal clue

The narrative is set off by an archaeological find made at Saqqara in the 1940s.

A British archaeologist by the name of Walter B. Emery found thirteen stoppers made of mud near the opening of a tomb. The small objects had been used to plug containers and bore hieroglyphics in the form of what are known as "serekhs."

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The serekhs were significant historical symbols in ancient Egypt. Serekhs were symbols of rulers and contained the name or symbol of the king.

Emery suggested that the serekhs found on the stoppers belonged to two rulers: Djer and Meretneith. Emery's suggestion was controversial since the picture that was in publication was very unclear.

That problem became even harder to resolve with time.

The 13 stoppers have not been located, and the original glass photographic plate Emery used has also disappeared. What survives is a digital copy of the old black-and-white photograph.

Instead of ignoring the picture altogether, Susan Kelly from Macquarie University and Crystal Miller from the University of Bucharest chose to use modern computer technology in the analysis of the image.

The hieroglyphic symbols were separated from the picture; then it was reversed, and the necessary information was turned into a scalable digital picture. In other words, they managed to create a much better picture of the inscriptions that were barely visible before.

The Guardian-style historical mystery here is unusually simple: the artefact is gone, but its photograph remains.

Why Meretneith was already considered unusually powerful

Even without the disputed inscription, Meretneith was no ordinary royal woman.

She was part of Egypt’s First Dynasty, a time during which the institutions of pharaohs were still forming. The precise familial ties between her and the royal family are not clear; however, there is speculation that she may be related to King Djer.

Her importance is especially clear from her burial complex at Abydos.

The site was exceptionally large and contained evidence of an extensive royal establishment. Archaeologists found the graves of dozens of servants and courtiers, along with storage jars and other objects associated with the royal burial.

Another clue comes from an ancient list of rulers associated with King Den, Meretneith's son according to the traditional interpretation. She is identified there as the “king's mother.”

That has led historians to propose that Meretneith acted as regent while Den was still too young to rule.

But there is a major distinction between being a powerful queen or regent and actually being recognised as king.

That is where the disputed mud stopper becomes significant.

If the serekhs really identify Meretneith, the symbols could represent something far more consequential than evidence of influence. They could indicate that she possessed the formal royal identity normally associated with male rulers of the period.

Could a woman really have ruled Egypt as king?

The researchers behind the new study believe the enhanced photograph provides evidence in favour of that interpretation.

They argue that the second and third serekhs contain symbols consistent with Meretneith's name and her association with the goddess Neith.

According to their interpretation, the markings use the same type of royal identifier employed for rulers of the period.

That would make Meretneith unusual not simply because she was a woman with political influence, but because she may have occupied the same formal position as a male king.

Susan Kelly has suggested that Meretneith's political career may have been more complicated than a simple period of regency. She could have shared power with Djer, later acted as regent for Den, and potentially ruled independently at another point.

The researchers propose that her position may have changed according to the political circumstances of the early dynasty.

But there is no consensus.

Eva-Maria Engel, an Egyptologist at Humboldt University of Berlin who was not involved in the study, disputes the interpretation. Speaking to Live Science, she said the enhanced image appears to show only the name of King Djer and does not identify Meretneith.

This issue is significant because the evidence at hand is particularly vulnerable. Scientists are not analysing the actual mud stopper itself; they are analysing a computer-enhanced copy of an image taken around seven decades ago.

It is possible that the image may show something that was not previously noticed, but it cannot eliminate all the doubts about the missing artefacts.

What the old image could change about ancient Egypt

The debate over Meretneith goes beyond one royal woman's title.

The findings, if they prove to be true, will contribute more towards the notion that women could have been ruling at the highest position of political leadership in Egypt much sooner than originally thought.

Meretneith was many centuries ahead of female kings such as Hatshepsut and Cleopatra VII. If she were to be considered a king, then evidence of female sovereignty in ancient Egypt would be traced back to its very beginning.

It would also raise questions about how succession actually worked during Egypt's First Dynasty.

The researchers suggest Meretneith may have been able to move between different forms of political authority depending on circumstances. That possibility does not fit neatly into the familiar model in which one male king succeeded another.

For now, however, the evidence remains contested.

There is no way to reexamine the lost stoppers, but the original photograph has disappeared. Everything in this story rests, therefore, on what can be discovered about the rest of the photograph through scholarship.

This gives the photograph significance beyond its value to archaeologists.

The photograph becomes a kind of secondary evidence — the modern digital version of a photograph of an ancient artefact that no longer exists.

If subsequent discoveries validate the conclusions reached by the researchers, Meretneith will rank as one of the earliest known females who wielded the powers of an Egyptian king.

As it stands, a faded photograph has brought into question anew the same mystery that has been alive for about five thousand years: was Meretneith merely a queen who ruled behind the scenes through her young son, or did she rule Egypt herself?