https://theconversation.com/was-there-really-a-female-king-in-ancient-egypt-5-000-years-ago-new-study-says-yes-290437 https://images.theconversation.com/files/759773/original/file-20260914-50-2ss9cq.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&rect=0%2C408%2C1920%2C640&q=75&auto=format&w=1920&h=640&fit=crop&dpr=1 Close-up of inscriptions in a rough sand coloured surface. Close-up of inscriptions in a rough sand coloured surface. Close-up of the inscription on the mud stopper. Courtesy of the Egypt Exploration Society *Was there really a female king in ancient Egypt 5,000 years ago? New study says yes * Published: September 15, 2026 12:34 am EDT More than 5,000 years ago, a royal woman called Meretneith (also written as Merneith), lived in ancient Egypt. She was possibly the daughter of Djer, the third king of the First Dynasty <https://www.francescoraffaele.com/egypt/hesyra/merneith.html>, a period when the first kings ruled over a unified Egypt. Details over Meretneith’s exact royal status have remained murky. We know she ruled the country because her tomb complex was filled with riches <https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/ancient-egyptians/egypt-had-an-unusually-powerful-female-king-5000-years-ago-lavish-tomb-suggests> fit for a male ruler of Egypt. At the very least, she was an interim ruler or co-regent. But did she ever rule Egypt in her own right? Egyptologists have long disputed whether Meretneith was an independent ruler of Egypt. Resolving that dispute would require finding a text that identifies her as a ruler. Our new research, published in the journal Prague Egyptological Studies <https://pes.ff.cuni.cz/en/magazin/2026-36/>, might do just that. Using a new digital technique, we examined hieroglyphs in the photo of a long-lost artefact, and the signs clearly point to Meretneith being one of the early rulers of Egypt. A muddy dispute Currently, the only possible text that could resolve the dispute over Meretneith’s status is a hieroglyphic inscription in a black-and-white photograph of a mud stopper (a plug used for pottery jars and other vessels). The text in question was originally found on 13 mud stoppers excavated from an unknown tomb in Saqqara <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saqqara> in the 1940s. Only one photo of an inscription remains. That photo is found in the records of Egyptologist Walter B. Emery from the Egypt Exploration Society <https://www.ees.ac.uk/> in London. The location of the original artefact or glass plate of the photo is unknown. The text consists of a row of four royal signs, known as serekhs. This hieroglyphic sign is written combining an image of a royal building, a patron deity and the ruler’s name. Emery said that only the first and fourth sign belonged to the ruler Djer. However, many scholars at the time rejected Emery’s claim that the other two serekhs named Meretneith. Among the many arguments against Emery’s theory was that the poor quality of the original published photo made it impossible to confirm what the signs on the mud stopper depicted. Clearing up the debate In collaboration with digital technician Crystal Miller at Macquarie University in Sydney, we came up with a new technique to digitally clear up the signs. The goal was to determine if the inscription provides definitive evidence that Meretneith held the same marker as male rulers – as Emery claimed. We applied a multi-step process to a digital image of the scanned archive photograph. By isolating the hieroglyphs, inverting the colours, and converting the image to a scalable vector (a computer graphic based on mathematical formulas), we produced a crisp digital replica – much like a high-tech pencil rubbing over a coin. A black and white photo with four indistinct serekhs visible. <https://images.theconversation.com/files/759775/original/file-20260914-50-qz32h4.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip> The first step was to add more contrast to a digital scan of the photograph. Author provided The enhanced image quality significantly improved the clarity of the text and is much more accurate than the original hand illustration Emery drew of the symbols in the photo. The same symbols now on a black background. <https://images.theconversation.com/files/759776/original/file-20260914-50-ensitz.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip> We isolated the serekhs from the background to perform further analysis. Author provided Our technique has revealed that in the second and third serekhs, the signs in the name portion of the emblem are consistent with the main sign used to write Meretneith’s name. In our opinion, the result identifies Meretneith with the primary mark of rulers in this period. This means she really was a female king (not simply a “queen”, but a true equivalent to a male ruler, hence “king”) during the First Dynasty, and the second female ruler of ancient Egypt whose name was recorded in the royal serekh emblem. A row of four hieroglyphs, the top row isolated from the photo and the bottom row a drawing from 1954. <https://images.theconversation.com/files/759774/original/file-20260914-50-nqmyxs.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip> Comparison of our new digital ‘rubbing’ of the serekhs (originally attained in 2023) and Emery’s hand drawings (1954). Author provided A body of evidence There are other markers that build a body of evidence for Meretneith’s royal career: her lavish funerary complex in the royal cemetery, inscriptions that document her name alongside administrative titles and departments, and impressions on royal tomb seals. In fact, studies estimate she ruled Egypt for at least 30 years <https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2013.0395> in one capacity or another. However, for all the evidence we do have, the jigsaw puzzle of her career remains incomplete. This latest research contributes a new hypothesis: that Meretneith’s political career should be divided into distinct stages matching the different forms of evidence. The different types of texts allow us to categorise different political roles of her career. The royal serekh beside Djer’s identifies her as a co-regent, while tomb seals confirm her later role as a regent king’s mother. Egyptians acknowledged her political status by naming her on the tomb seal of a subsequent ruler, Semerkhet. Other texts indicate that she held authority over the treasury and officials, governing as a ruler without a political title. The ability to change her political roles across her career was only possible because of her gender and position in the ruling family. We suggest Meretneith had the advantage of stepping in and out of the political domain as necessitated by the needs of the political environment, unlike male rulers who succeeded her, reigned, died, and were buried by their successors. // * Ancient Egypt <https://theconversation.com/topics/ancient-egypt-8784> * Egyptology <https://theconversation.com/topics/egyptology-39949> * Hieroglyphs <https://theconversation.com/topics/hieroglyphs-102579> * New research, Australia and New Zealand <https://theconversation.com/topics/new-research-australia-and-new-zealand-191827> Author 1. Susan Kelly <https://theconversation.com/profiles/susan-kelly-2753816> Honorary Postdoctoral Associate, Egyptology, Macquarie University Disclosure statement Susan Kelly does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Partners Macquarie University <https://theconversation.com/institutions/macquarie-university-1174> Macquarie University <https://theconversation.com/institutions/macquarie-university-1174> provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU. View all partners <https://theconversation.com/us/partners> DOI https://doi.org/10.64628/AA.eu57kejj4 <https://doi.org/10.64628/AA.eu57kejj4> CC BY ND We believe in the free flow of information Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. Republish this article You've read this article for free The next article you read is also free. And so's the next. And the next. They're all free. We don't have a paywall or intrusive ads. We also give away our stories for free to ANY news organization looking for research-based articles to supplement their work and bring insights to their readers. What makes all this possible is that we have generous readers like you. 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