Hatshepsut Timeline

After her last dated attestation in Year 20, c. 1460 BC, Hatshepsut no longer appears in official records by Year 22, c. 1458 BC, marking the effective end of her documented presence in the historical record.

A single stela erected at Armant records the precise date of the beginning of Thutmose III's reign as sole ruler of Egypt — and presumably of Hatshepsut's death — as Year 22, II Peret, Day 10, possibly corresponding to 16 January 1458 BC or 16 January 1457 BC.

Based on Manetho's reign length preserved by Josephus, Hatshepsut ceased to reign in Year 22, c. 1458 BC, after roughly two decades as queen regnant of Egypt.

The Armant stela's date may alternatively correspond to 16 January 1457 BC under a different chronological reconstruction, illustrating the lingering uncertainty over when exactly Thutmose III began ruling alone.

Image source: Montu

Manetho, writing in the 3rd century BC, recorded a reign length of 21 years and 9 months for Hatshepsut. This figure, preserved in Josephus's book Contra Apionem, indicates that she ceased to reign in Year 22, c. 1458 BC.

Image source: Against Apion

Josephus and Julius Africanus follow the earlier testimony of Manetho, mentioning a queen regnant called Amessis or Amensis, specified by Josephus as having been the sister of her predecessor — a reference generally understood to describe Hatshepsut.

Image source: Josephus

When 19th-century Egyptologists started to interpret the texts on the Deir el-Bahari temple walls, which were illustrated with two seemingly male kings, their translations made no sense, puzzling scholars for decades.

Image source: Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut

The problem of interpreting Hatshepsut's representations was a major issue in late 19th-century and early 20th-century Egyptology, centering on confusion and disagreement about the order of succession of early 18th Dynasty pharaohs.

Image source: Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt

In 1903, Egyptologist Howard Carter discovered tomb KV60 in the Valley of the Kings. This modest tomb would later become central to efforts to identify the mummy of Queen Hatshepsut herself.

Image source: KV60

Howard Carter cleared tomb KV20 in the Valley of the Kings in 1903, recovering funerary furniture belonging to Hatshepsut from what is believed to be the tomb originally prepared for her burial.

Image source: KV20

Besides the objects recovered during Howard Carter's 1903 clearance of KV20, other funerary furniture belonging to Hatshepsut has been found elsewhere, enriching knowledge of her royal burial equipment.

Among the funerary furnishings belonging to Hatshepsut discovered outside KV20 was a lioness throne or bedstead, a striking piece of royal furniture attesting to her status as pharaoh.

A senet game board belonging to Hatshepsut was found, complete with carved lioness-headed red-jasper game pieces bearing her pharaonic title, offering an intimate glimpse of the queen's leisure objects.

Image source: Senet

Other funerary items belonging to Hatshepsut include a signet ring and a partial shabti figurine bearing her name, further documenting the dispersed remains of her burial equipment.

Image source: Ushabti

During a 1935–36 Metropolitan Museum of Art expedition, a jar stamped with the seal of the 'God's Wife Hatshepsut' was discovered in situ on a hillside near Thebes, and two other jars bore the seal of 'The Good Goddess Maatkare', her throne name.

Image source: Metropolitan Museum of Art

In spring 2007, the unidentified body known as KV60A was finally removed from tomb KV60 by Dr. Zahi Hawass, initiating scientific examination aimed at identifying whether the mummy was that of Queen Hatshepsut.

In 2011, the tooth previously used to identify the mummy from KV60 as Hatshepsut was identified as a lower-jaw molar, whereas the KV60 mummy was missing an upper-jaw molar, casting doubt on the supposed identification of the queen's remains.