I received notification about new results recently from one of the DNA-testing services that I use. (Note: it is not the beleaguered 23&Me.) Through this service, I had my maternal (mitochondrial) DNA tested. One report offered is called “Notable Connections.” These are “connections based on direct DNA testing or deduced from testing of relatives and should be considered as fun facts.”
Included in my results were some Swedish and Danish royalty and some poor bronze-age blokes who were dug up in England when modern roads were built. One connection sent shivers through me, however. It was for an Egyptian mummy named Takabuti. Her remains are currently on display at the Ulster Museum in Belfast. We visited that museum this summer! We went there on our first day in Ireland.
I racked my brains trying to remember if we’d seen the mummy. We must have because it’s a major display. But I don’t think we paid her a lot of attention. I mean, I’ve seen King Tut’s mummy, and after that, everything else is small potatoes. I also recall a vague distaste at seeing a dead body on display. However, if I had known I was related to this mummy, you can bet I would’ve taken more notice!
According to the DNA site, Takabuti and I shared a common ancestor 6,300 years ago. She died and was mummified about 2,600 years ago in Thebes, which is now known as Luxor. The striking thing about her is that she has red hair. It has lightened to a golden color now, due to light exposure since she’s been on display. DNA testing on the mummy showed that her mother was European – probably from the Canary Islands or Southern Iberia (Spain and Portugal). Red hair is not uncommon in that part of the world. It’s thought to come from the area’s indigenous peoples who were known as the Guanches. They were believed to have originated in North Africa, specifically the Berber people of the mainland African deserts.
Takabuti was the daughter of a priest of Ammon-Ra, the sun good and the major deity in Egypt (like Zeus was to the Greeks). As such, her family would have lived comfortably and enjoyed the benefits of high status. Later, Takabuti was the mistress of a great house, and held high social standing. Although she wasn’t royalty, she was mummified to expensive royal standards.
Tragically, Takabuti’s life was cut short between the ages of twenty and thirty. Recent scientific analysis revealed she met a violent end while running, killed by an axe blow to her upper left shoulder that was likely instantly fatal. She may have been trying to escape an assailant, possibly during a period of conflict – perhaps at the hands of an Assyrian soldier or someone from her own community. A magic poultice was packed into her wound to help it heal in the afterlife.
How did an Egyptian mummy get to Ireland? The DNA site says that following the Napoleonic Wars, during a period of active trade in Egyptian antiquities (known as Egyptomania), Takabuti was purchased in 1834 by Thomas Greg of Ballymenoch House, Holywood, County Down. (Perhaps, because of her red hair, he thought he was bringing her back to her homeland?) She made history as the first mummy to be unwrapped in Ireland, with this significant event taking place on January 27, 1835, at the Belfast Natural History Society’s museum. The unwrapping generated considerable scientific interest, particularly in Belfast, then the commercial center of the Irish linen industry, which took special note of her fine linen wrappings.
We know so much about Takabuti because she was the subject of intense academic study. Her face has been reconstructed. A book has been written about her, and she’s also been the subject of a short story. I haven’t read that story yet, but plan to soon. (It’s in Matters of Life and Death by Irish/Scottish author Bernard MacLaverty. Yet another retirement project!)
I wonder if her unusual red hair contributed to her high status is Egypt. Although I don’t have red hair, my mother had it. But hers came from her Scottish/Irish ancestry. My relationship to the mummy is a fun link to history. You can bet if I ever visit Belfast again, I’ll stop into the Ulster Museum and pay distant, distant cousin Takabuti proper respects.
Marie's Meanderings 
Fascinating.
What a fun and fascinating discovery! Maggie
I agree! It sent me down a rabbit hole of research for a few days.
Super cool! See, our heritage is always calling us back home to say hello!
Yes, that kind of freaked me out! Thanks for reading, Liz!
As a redhead, I had to read this. I’m from Swedish roots, so I probably am not related. It’s still fun to wonder about this ancient woman’s life.
I thought you would take note of this post! I’m so intrigued about how Takabuti’s European mother got to Egypt. Was it a trade alliance thing, or was she taken captive, or just a weird twist of fate? Takabuti must have always felt a bit of an outsider, I would suspect, even though she was probably born in Egypt.
I’ll have to check out the book about Takabuti soon.
If you access the link in my post about the Takabuti research project, there’s a series of videos from the book authors where they present the book’s content. So, if you have trouble finding the book, it’s a possible alternative. I watched the videos but I’ll probably order the book, too, just for posterity and so my children can have it once I’m gone.
Thank you. Will do.
She’d have been amazed if she could have looked into the future and learned about all the interest there would be about her.
Probably amazed and a bit horrified would be my guess!
Goodness, Marie, so close, in Belfast! Dutch, Italian, Peruvian, Irish….we’re all connected! 🤗😊
Yes, it’s truly amazing to discover where our ancestral connections originated!
Wow, what a fascinating ancestor to find! 😊😊
Yes, it’s not every day you find out you’re related to a mummy!
Well how interesting!!! And you totally brushed off that you’re also related to Scandinavian royalty 🤣 But yes, mummies are more interesting. (And I, too, do not want to look at them in museums. Once is enough.)
Yes, somehow the mummy caught my attention more. On the Scandinavian side, I’m related to the last Viking King of Denmark, Sweyn Estridsen, and his mother. He ruled in 1047-1074. Later, I’m related to Birger Jarl, a Swedish statesman and regent in 1248 whose son became King of Sweden once King Erik died. It’s pretty cool, but red-haired mummies are cooler. 🙂
There’s a main street in Stockholm named after Birger Jarl.
But how amazing that people in your past have ruled or otherwise mingled with the right people so as to be immortalised. It makes me think of your genes, your potential, and how those people ended up there, how your ancestors found each other to make this combination of genes…
I hear there’s a statue of Birger in Stolkholm, also. It is cool that so many of my relatives have been rulers or important, but I don’t think I’m unique in that. Sweyn Estridsen had 20 children (19 out of wedlock) and so there are probably millions of people related to him in the world now. It seems like the elite had more opportunities to spread their genes around, so it makes sense that people living today are related.
I like to think that the books I have written will serve as my statues. 🙂
They are good statues indeed!!!
This is fascinating! It makes me wonder if I have any interesting ancestral connections from way back when somewhere. Very cool!
You never know, you just might! It’s fun to feel connected to history.
Have you added “Walk Like and Egyptian” to your music playlist? 😀 Fascinating what DNA can tell us.
Hi Marie. Good idea — I’ll have to add that song! Ha ha.
Okay, this relation blows all mine out of the water!😂 What an odd thing to turn up from a DNA connection.
I somehow missed seeing Otzi the Iceman when we were in Bolzano, Italy. Maybe he and I will turn out to be related!
Hi Eilene. That would be funny if you were related to Otzi, and it would make a great blog post!
Fascinating, Marie
It’s amazing how much they can learn from DNA.
How fascinating!
I have always had an eye on history, especially ancient cultures like Egyptians. Always fascinated me. 😁
Loved this!
Thanks! I was very surprised to learn about this family connection to Egypt.