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Re-assessment of damaged statues depicting the famous female pharaoh Hatshepsut questions the prevailing view that they were destroyed as an act of defilement, indicating Hatshepsut was treated similarly to earlier pharaohs in death.

Ancient Egyptian ruler Hatshepsut has gained iconic status in the modern day for her role as one of Egypt's greatest rulers and one of its few female pharaohs, but she also incurred political persecution after her death.

During the 1920s, excavations at the site of Deir el-Bahri (Luxor, Egypt) found many fragmented statues of Hatshepsut. This damage has traditionally been seen as a violent act of retribution carried out by her nephew and successor, Thutmose III.

However, many of the statues survived in relatively good condition, questioning the idea that the destruction was motivated by Thutmose III's animosity towards Hatshepsut.

"While the 'shattered visage' of Hatshepsut has come to dominate the popular perception, such an image does not reflect the treatment of her statuary to its full extent," states author of the research, Jun Yi Wong from the University of Toronto. "Many of her statues survive in relatively good condition, with their faces virtually intact."

To determine the true motivation behind this destruction, Wong examined unpublished field notes, drawings, photographs and correspondences from the 1922–28 excavations, re-assessing the archaeological evidence based on this data. His results are in the journal Antiquity.

The archival material indicates many of the statues sustained damage that was not caused by Thutmose III. Many of them were reused in later periods as building materials and tools, which added to their damage.

Furthermore, the statues that were damaged during Thutmose's reign were done so in a specific way: by breaking them across their weak points (the neck, waist and knees).

This phenomenon is known in Egyptology and often referred to as the "deactivation" of statues. The practice is intended to neutralize the inherent power of images and has been afforded to the statuary of various kings throughout pharaonic history.

"In other words, this treatment does not necessarily denote hostility towards the depicted individual," explains Wong.

Therefore, the damage to these statues likely took place as a result of the statues' ritual deactivation and subsequent pragmatic reuse rather than malicious, iconoclastic destruction.

This indicates that Hatshepsut was treated similarly in death to her predecessors.

"For a long time, it has been assumed that Hatshepsut's statuary sustained a vindictive attack by Thutmose III," says Wong. "However, careful 're-excavation' of the archives indicates that this is not the case, and various other agents have contributed to the destruction of these objects."

It does not, however, discount the possibility that at least some of this destruction was intended to damage Hatshepsut's legacy.

"Unlike the other rulers, Hatshepsut did suffer a program of persecution, and its wider political implications cannot be overstated," concludes Wong. "Yet, there is room for a more nuanced understanding of Thutmose III's actions, which were perhaps driven by ritual necessity rather than outright antipathy."