The Mystery of Nefertiti's Bust | Documentary

The Controversial Authenticity and Illicit Journey of the Egyptian Queen's Iconic Sculpture.

0:00 🔍 The authenticity of the famous Nefertiti bust is questioned by some experts.
5:46 👑 The queen of Egypt, Nefertiti, is known for her beauty and her relationship with her husband, Akhenaton. They ruled during the 18th dynasty and established a new religion centered around the worship of the sun god, Aton. Their reign was short-lived and their city, Akhetaton, was eventually abandoned.
11:51 🔎 In the early 20th century, the Prussian archaeologist Borschacht discovered the bust of Nefertiti in the city of Akhenaton, Egypt, after conducting extensive excavations in the area.
17:42 🔍 An investigation raises doubts about the authenticity of the bust of Nefertiti.
23:32 🔍 The authenticity of the Nefertiti bust is questioned due to its use as a model and its absence from public display for many years.
35:54 🔍 Analysis of pigments found on the bust of Nefertiti confirms the use of authentic materials, but does not provide an age for the sculpture.
42:26 🔍 Investigation reveals illegal removal of Nefertiti bust from Egypt to Berlin in 1913.
48:29 🔍 The controversy surrounding the sharing of artifacts from an archaeological dig in Egypt is brought to light.

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[cgoodson]

Like you, I saw the bust of Nefertiti in the Berlin Museum when the Wall still separated East and West Berlin. The bust is beyond description. Truly inspired, whether authentic or not, this bust of Nefertiti is a masterpiece.

[suleimanamr]

I still can't understand why is this bust in Berlin and not in Egypt?

[JesusMagicPanties]

It absolutely doesn't matter to me whether it's a contemporary "fake" or an "original" at all. That's for sure that in either case it was done by a great artist who created a mesmerizingly incredible work which you just can't stop looking at. A human genius who needed only a piece of common stone, plaster and paint to transform these into pure and eternal soulfulness.
Greetings from Poland

[gointothedogs]

I've seen a good copy of this bust in Calif.'s San Jose Rosicrucian egyptology museum, where it first moved me to tears with its perfection. Some years later I came across a National Geographic special edition with some pretty compelling evidence that the bust was not even of Nefertiti, but of her daughter Meritaten. I would certainly love to see the entire mystery resolved once and for all.

[DavGv]

An interesting video but, taking the standard of proof as 'balance of probability' not 'beyond all reasonable doubt' I didn't consider the established either that it was a forgery or that it was genuine. And saying 'German authorities' stopped someone talking is intended to make us suspicious. One might ask 'which authorities?' The police, some museum director, a politician, the Chancellor.... To me this undermined the whole approach.

[laurieallen]

Steirlin’s just mad the French didn’t find it with all the time they spent there. As an archaeologist, with several digs spent in Egypt, I can tell you that there are many, many, many amazing things that have come out of the sand, directly out of the sand, picked up, just beautiful.

On a sidenote, it is common for archaeologists to speak with the local forgers to find out a lot of different things: technique they use, what’s popular, who is buying, etc.

[FreejackVesa]

Now that I'm thinking about it, it really does look insanely good for being 3000 years old

[Misseria]

Scientists have accurately carbon dated the black paint used in Nefertiti's eyes, which was mix of soot and bees wax, both components being organic. The date overlaps Nefertiti’s time period, again proving the authenticity of the bust. Conveniently the journalists didn't mention that Borchardt found this colour in the workshop, only red and light ochre, blue and yellow.

[eleanorchapple]

I don’t care who made this amazing bust. It is beyond beautiful.

[JelMain]

The reason you can't use Akhenaten as a baseline is because he made such serious enemies of the priesthood while alive, they did their utmost to erase all trace of him while dead - in the process accidentally preserving so many documents he's one of the best-documented rulers of the era, particularly in the correspondence with the Hittites.

[heidibee]

If you know the history of these two you realize how hated HE was by the religious elites. The fact that they did not pulverize his image is the real surprise. She survived him and may have made amends with the status quo thereby sidestepping his fate.

[xornxenophon]

One would imagine that the paint on the statue could be analyzed chemically to find out how old that paint is?!

[Gwaithmir]

During the early 1980's, I bought a restored copy of Nefertiti's bust for my mother's birthday. She loved it. It's 2/3 the size of the original.

[robertagardner]

If Nefertiti is real or not, she is still beautiful and also a work of art. The artist, whoever he or she was, should be proud to have made such a wonderful object.

[capricosm]

Most big historic art exhibitions and galleries have replicas on display which is a tightly held secret.

[daneast]

I think the key to actually dating the bust is in the eye. Or more specifically, behind the eye. There must be remnants unknowingly placed behind it by the sculptor. Skin cells, dust and pollen from the air, fibers from clothing, etc. Those kinds of things could only have been sealed behind the eye at the time it was placed and the plaster was molded around it.

[scloftin]

My question would be, why make the bust and miss the eye if it was an experimental copy? The missing eye really argues more for authenticity than it does for a later copy. <chuckle> Doesn't matter, it's still timeless and almost otherworldly beauty.

[sylvieverreault]

If the German authorities dared to threaten the French specialist in order to silence him and stop his research, there can be no doubt that the German analytical laboratories were asked to confirm that the composition of the plaster and pigments was consistent with those used in Nefertiti's time, and that they too were threatened.

[mishap]

At what point do you start or stop returning "looted" objects? 100 years, 200, 300, a thousand years? Humans have been pillaging other people since the dawn of time and it always gives me a chuckle when I hear Hawass talking about his Egyptian ancestors and denigrating the Ottomans as foreigners when ethnically he has more in common with them than the ancient Egyptians.

[DeannaSt]

It was so funny when he said that they presented only “black and white” photos 🤣
We know how rudimentary coloured photos were at rhe begining of the 20th centiry and how colour photos took off only after the 70s, what did he expect for 1913 …?
A digital photo? 😂