London, May 25 (IANS): The mummy of a pharaoh's foster brother that Egyptologists could not trace for years may have now been found -- researchers suspect a skeleton at a former monastery in Italy to be that of Qenamun.
Qenamun was the chief steward of Amenhotep II (about 1427-1400 BC), who was the seventh Pharaoh of Egypt's 18th Dynasty.
His afterlife journey had been a mystery as archaeologists could not find his mummy or coffin.
"Identifying Qenamun has been like fitting together long-lost puzzle pieces," Marilina Betro, professor of Egyptology at Pisa University in Italy, was quoted as saying.
Researchers found a skeleton resting in a cardboard box in 14th-century monastery at Calci, a village near Pisa in Italy two years ago.
Intriguingly, the skull bore an inscription in black ink stating it was one of the mummies brought from Egypt by Ippolito Rosellini, Europe's first Egyptology professor, Betro added.
Rosellini brought 11 mummies with him.
While seven are currently on display in the Egypt museum in Florence, Italy, three were destroyed and never made to the Florence museum. The eleventh mummy remained a mystery, till now, reported Discovery News.