LOOKING at a copy of the famous bust of Nefertiti in Bolton Museum’s Egyptology Department made Joyce Tyldesley wonder about the truth of this depiction of the enduring Egyptian noblewoman.

And being not just an ordinary appreciative Boltonian but Dr Joyce Tyldesley, world-famous archaeologist and author of 20 much-acclaimed books, it set her on a train of thought that will culminate in a new book about the iconic Nefertiti.

It comes as Bolton Museum entered the top five most visted attractions in Greater Manchester.

“We all know this image of her, but we don’t know that she really looked like that more than 3,000 years ago,” Mrs Tyldesley said. “There are other images of her we know about where she doesn’t look beautiful at all. Yet, we are fascinated by this image of her and have been ever since the bust was discovered in 1912.”

The limestone and plaster bust was found in Amarna, the ancient Egyptian city of Akhetaton today known as Tell-el-Amarna. The city was founded by Pharaoh Akhenaton (also known as Amenhotep IV) as a new capital with places of worship for his own “religion of light” whose god was Aton.

In 1912, a German expedition excavated there and the bust was one of the thousands of objects discovered.

“There are lots of conspiracy theories about why this bust — obviously of great interest — wasn’t exhibited in the Cairo Museum but ended up in the Berlin Museum,” added Dr Tyldesley, “and that’s something I’ll be looking at, too.

“The bust didn’t go on display until 1922 and it’s worth remembering that this was just after the English expedition had found the tomb of Tutankhamen when it was suddenly revealed to the world.”

Dr Tyldesley is not usually big on conspiracy theories — she is an evidence-based archaeologist.

As a young pupil at Bolton School she was first inspired about Egyptology when renowned expert Dr Rosalie David was speech day guest of honour and a fascinated Joyce was hooked.

She obtained a first-class honours degree in archaeology at Liverpool University and then a doctorate in pre-historic archaeology at Oxford.

She met and married fellow archaeology student Steven Snape and the couple have two children, Jack now aged 19 and 23 year-old Philippa.

The family live sin Over Hulton.

Dr Tyldesley is now senior lecturer in Egyptology at the University of Manchester, delivering her lectures online to students in America, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Dubai, Qtar, Germany, Finland, Mexico and, interestingly, Egypt.

She wrote her first book after Philippa was born.

Unusually, “Daughters of Isis” looked at the women of Ancient Egypt and was an immediate success, both with academics and non-academics.

She followed this with another winner about Hatchepsut, the female pharaoh who even wore a fake beard.

Three of her books have accompanied TV series including the BBC’s hit series “Egypt”, and in 2005 she wrote a book about Nefertiti entitled Egypt’s Sun Queen.

Her new book, however, takes a very different tack and is set to offer quite different opinions about this mysterious figure.

“History is like that,” she said. “It moves forward and thinking changes. There have been major improvements in DNA testing, for example, in the last 10 years which have made me re-think the subject. People need to know that Egyptology in particular isn’t static.”

She plans to go back to Berlin and the Neues Museum where the original bust is on display, and she certainly plans to re-visit previous research on Nefertiti.

“We don’t know very much about her, really — when or where she came from, why she suddenly disappeared or what happened to her corpse,” said Dr Tyldesley.

“We do know that she was of royal blood and had six daughters. The images of her do vary and it may be that the Berlin bust is an impression of how she wanted to look rather than how she did look.”

The archaeologist is fascinated by how she came to embody beauty to everyone irrespective of age, gender and ethnicity. “Recent history is littered with people believed to be her reincarnation and her beauty has continued to fascinate people today,” she added.

Nileen Namita, a 49-year-old artist from Brighton, has spent about £200,000 and endured 51 operations to look like the Berlin bust version of Nefertiti.

“It’s like the modern cult of celebrity in that people want to look like her — but it has lasted such a long time,” said Dr Tyldesley.

After researching the Berlin bust, its discovery and theories, she will look at reconstructing Nefertiti’s life.

Back home, she is president of Bolton Archaeology and Egyptology Society and enjoys sharing her love of discovery with local enthusiasts.

Dr Tyldesley also believes that Bolton is very lucky to have such a comprehensive and well-known Egyptology department, and is delighted with the international success of Bolton Museum’s touring exhibition in the Far East.

“I still like to visit our museum and look at all the exhibits there,” she said. “That’s certainly where my new journey with Nefertiti started.”