King Thutmose IV died young and was initially buried in the Valley of the Kings. His mummy was later moved to the Deir el-Bahari Cachette (DB320) along with other royal mummies. Despite his body being rewrapped in its original bandages, his feet were broken off, though not lost.
The mummy of Thutmose IV was discovered in the mummy cache of KV35 in 1898 by Victor Loret. Ancient priests had moved his body for safety reasons, and he was originally buried in his own tomb (KV43), discovered by Howard Carter in 1903. Grafton Elliot Smith (1871-1937), upon examining the body, concluded that the king was very ill at the time of his death and had seemingly suffered from an illness for a while, describing Thutmose IV as “extremely emaciated.”
Thutmose IV was balding, and his mummy was the first of that time to have pierced ears; his fingernails were manicured. The mummy’s hands were crossed on his chest in the Osirian position. Grafton Elliot Smith’s examination revealed his extreme emaciation at the time of death. His height was given as 1.646 meters (5 feet 4.8 inches), but considering that his feet had been broken off post-mortem, he would have been taller in life.
The forearms were crossed over the chest, right over left. His hair, parted in the middle, was about 16 cm (6.3 inches) long and dark reddish-brown. His ears were pierced. Elliot Smith estimated his age to be 25-28 years or possibly older.
Many decades later, in 2012, the Imperial College London examined the body of the late king. Given the knowledge that some of Thutmose’s family, including his great-grandson Tutankhamun and his two stillborn daughters, died young, the examining surgeon theorized that Thutmose and other family members may have suffered from Temporal lobe epilepsy. Some scholars believe this could explain the king’s famous Dream Stele, where he describes the Sphinx of Giza talking to him, as those with Temporal lobe epilepsy sometimes experience visions.
However, this theory is not a definitive conclusion. It must be noted that the Dream Stele could have been propagandist or Thutmose certifying his status as a divine ruler, similar to Hatshepsut’s writings of her divine birth at Deir el-Bahari. Alternatively, it could have been something the king truly believed happened to him, without the modern interpretation of an illness causing such a vision.
Thutmose IV’s body measures 1.64 meters (5 feet 4.8 inches), but due to his disembodied feet, he was likely taller in life. He was relatively young, with Smith estimating his age at death to be approximately 28, although more modern scholars suggest he could have been in his mid-30s. His ears were pierced, and he appeared to have a smile with teeth showing. Most notably, his hair was entirely natural, long, and parted in the middle, with a reddish-brown color.
New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, reign of Thutmose IV, ca. 1401-1391 BC. Now in the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Cairo. JE 34559
