Professor Garstang, Mrs Garstang, Harold Jones, and an unknown woman, taking tea in a tomb at Beni Hassan _320
The chain began with Sir Richard Caton, professor of physiology and Liverpool’s Lord Mayor from 1907-08, who gave the Royal College of Physician’s 1904 Harveian Oration in Ancient Egyptian medicine, but it was under the tutelage of Prof Ronald Harrison that Connolly began investigating a pair of mummified foetuses found in the tomb of Tutankhamun.
For many years, it was believed they could not both be the Pharaoh’s children, as he had not been married for long enough for his wife to give birth twice. And, as the foetuses were of very different sizes, it was assumed they were not twins.
However, analysis of tissue samples carried out at Liverpool University in the 1960s revealed them to be of the same blood type, which suggests they could have been related.
Connolly now believes the foetuses could have been twins suffering from the condition twin-twin-transfusion-syndrome, where they share a single placenta, causing one to become much larger than the other.
A study of an X-ray of the larger foetus showed that it is likely to have been at a much earlier stage of development than previously thought. Connolly is currently in negotiations with the Egyptian government to obtain an X-ray of the smaller twin.
“If one or other of these girls had survived and they were Tutankhamun’s children, then the 19th dynasty (founded by Rameses I) would probably not have come about,” he reveals.
Connolly has also studied X-rays of Tutankhamun himself, concluding that he was not murdered by a blow to the head, as was originally assumed.
“People always expect you to be able to tell a cause of death from an X-ray, but in 99% of cases that would not show up,” he says.
For him, the interest in Ancient Egypt lies in solving historical mysteries through anatomical study. He has never been to Egypt and has no concrete plans to visit in the future.
”I can see why people become fascinated by it,” he concedes. “The Ancient Egyptians were actual people from a lost piece of history and they left all these material objects behind as clues to who they were.”
* GARSTANG Museum, on Chatham Street, is normally open from 2-5pm on Wednesdays during term time, and 9.30am - 5pm on the first Friday of every month (second Friday in January, 2009). Further details on 0151 794 2467.
