Before the discovery of the royal mummies (mostly in 1881 and 1898), estimates of the reign-length and life-span of the pharaohs and queens was made on the basis of monumental and textual sources. The appearance of the mummies changed things, however, as anatomists, such as Elliot Smith and Douglas Derry were then able to make their own assessments based on the royal body lying before them. More recently x-ray analysis allowed further interpretation to be made on the basis of skeletal development, and suddenly the ages of royal mummies were too young for the historical figures we knew so well. So what is the truth? Has science proved the ancient records to be false? Did the pharaohs all die young?     S