Editing Nefertiti (section)

==Death==
{{Further|Amarna succession}}
[[File:Queen Nefertiti, Limestone relief.jpg|thumb|right|160px|Nefertiti worshipping the Aten. She is given the title of ''Mistress of the Two Lands''. On display at the [[Ashmolean Museum]], Oxford.]]

===Old theories===
[[File:Fragment with cartouche of Akhenaten, which is followed by epithet Great in his Lifespan and the title of Nefertiti Great King's Wife. Reign of Akhenaten. From Amarna, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London.jpg|thumb|Fragment with cartouche of Akhenaten, which is followed by epithet Great in his Lifespan and the title of Nefertiti Great King's Wife. Reign of Akhenaten. From Amarna, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London]]
Pre-2012 Egyptological theories thought that Nefertiti vanished from the historical record around Year 12 of Akhenaten's reign, with no word of her thereafter. Conjectured causes included injury, a plague that was sweeping through the city, and a natural cause. This theory was based on the discovery of several [[ushabti]] fragments inscribed for Nefertiti (now located in the Louvre and the Brooklyn Museum).

A previous theory that she fell into disgrace was discredited when deliberate erasures of monuments belonging to a queen of Akhenaten were shown to refer to [[Kiya]] instead.<ref name="PM" />

During Akhenaten's reign (and perhaps after), Nefertiti enjoyed unprecedented power. By the twelfth year of his reign, there is evidence she may have been elevated to the status of co-regent:<ref>Reeves, Nicholas. <cite>''Akhenaten: Egypt's False Prophet''</cite>. p.172 Thames & Hudson. 2005. {{ISBN|0-500-28552-7}}</ref> equal in status to the pharaoh, as may be depicted on the [[Coregency Stela]].

It is possible that Nefertiti is the ruler named Neferneferuaten. Some theorists believe that Nefertiti was still alive and held influence on the younger royals. If this is the case, that influence and presumably Nefertiti's own life would have ended by year 3 of Tutankhaten's reign (1331 BC). In that year, Tutankhaten changed his name to Tutankhamun. This is evidence of his return to the official worship of [[Amun]], and abandonment of Amarna to return the capital to Thebes.<ref name="Dodson"/>

===New theories===
In 2012, the discovery of an inscription dated to Year 16, month 3 of [[Season of the Inundation|Akhet]], day 15 of the reign of Akhenaten was announced.<ref name="Van der Perre 2012">{{cite book |last=Van der Perre |first=Athena |editor-last=Seyfried |editor-first=Friederike| title=In the Light of Amarna: 100 Years of the Nefertiti discovery |publisher=Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin |date=2012 |isbn=978-3-86568-848-4}}</ref>{{rp|196–197}} It was discovered within Quarry 320 in the largest wadi of the limestone quarry at Dayr Abū Ḥinnis.{{sfn|van der Perre|2014|p=68}} The five-line inscription, written in red ochre, mentions the presence of the "Great Royal Wife, His Beloved, Mistress of the Two Lands, Neferneferuaten Nefertiti".<ref name="Van der Perre 2012"/>{{rp|197}}{{sfn|van der Perre|2014|p=73}} The final line of the inscription refers to ongoing building work being carried out under the authority of the king's scribe [[Penthu]] on the [[Small Aten Temple]] in Amarna.{{sfn|van der Perre|2014|p=76}} Van der Perre stresses that:

{{Quote|This inscription offers incontrovertible evidence that both Akhenaten and Nefertiti were still alive in the 16th year of his [Akhenaten's] reign and, more importantly, that they were still holding the same positions as at the start of their reign. This makes it necessary to rethink the final years of the Amarna Period.{{sfn|van der Perre|2014|p=77}}}}

This means that Nefertiti was alive in the second to last year of Akhenaten's reign, and demonstrates that Akhenaten still ruled alone, with his wife by his side. Therefore, the rule of the female Amarna pharaoh known as [[Neferneferuaten]] must be placed between the death of Akhenaten and the accession of Tutankhamun. Neferneferuaten, this female pharaoh, specifically used the epithet 'Effective for her husband' in one of her cartouches,<ref name="Deep Blue">{{cite book |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012051415/http://cassian.memphis.edu/history/murnane/M_Gabolde.pdf |chapter-url=http://cassian.memphis.edu/history/murnane/M_Gabolde.pdf |chapter=Under a Deep Blue Starry Sky |editor-first=P. |editor-last=Brand |title=Causing His Name to Live: Studies in Egyptian Epigraphy and History in Memory of William J. Murnane |pages=17–21 |archive-date=12 October 2013 |access-date=11 August 2022 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> which means she was either Nefertiti or her daughter Meritaten (who was married to king [[Smenkhkare]]).