Mummies 317a and 317b were the infant daughters of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Their mother is presumed to be Ankhesenamun, his only known wife, who has been tentatively identified through DNA testing as the mummy KV21A. 317a was born prematurely at 5–6 months' gestation, and 317b was born at or near full term. They are assumed to have been stillborn or died shortly after birth.

They were buried in their father's tomb in the Valley of the Kings, which was discovered by the Egyptologist Howard Carter in 1922. Their bodies were mummified and wrapped in the same style as high-status adults and 317a was fitted with a gilded mummy mask; 317b's mask was too small for her and was found in 1907 among the leftovers from Tutankhamun's mummification and funerary feast cached in KV54. Each girl was buried in miniature two-coffin sets of the same design used by nobility. Both babies were unnamed, as the coffin inscriptions call them only the "Osiris", a generic term for the deceased, so they are known by the numbers assigned by Carter during his excavation.

They have been examined several times since their discovery. 317a was unwrapped by Carter in 1925 and both mummies were examined by the anatomist Douglas Derry in 1932. X-ray imaging and serological testing was carried out on 317b in the 1970s and both were CT-scanned in 2008, where the remains were found to be in a fragile and degraded condition. No cause of death could be determined for either child and neither child had any observable conditions or diseases. The 1970s diagnosis of 317b with conditions such as Sprengel's deformity and spina bifida was determined to be a result of post-mortem fracturing and dislocation of bones.

The mummies were buried in Tutankhamun's tomb, in the north-eastern corner of the treasury. Their coffins were found in an open wooden box atop a stack of items that included ushabti shrines, boxes, and a model boat; beside them sat another miniature nested coffin set containing a lock of hair belonging to Tutankhamun's grandmother, Tiye. The box's lid was once tied and sealed but had been removed by robbers in antiquity,^[1] being placed behind the neighbouring box.^[2] The two coffins were placed side by side, head to toe; chips had been taken off the toe of the larger coffin (317b) in order to close the lid.^[1] Bands of linen at the throat, middle, and ankles sealed the outer coffins; each was secured by mud seals stamped with the necropolis seal of a jackal over nine captives. Inside each outer coffin was a gilded inner coffin, which in turn contained the mummified and wrapped body of a stillborn child "preserved in accordance with burial custom of the Eighteenth Dynasty".^[3] 317a was the smaller of the two mummies and had a gilded cartonnage mask; the other mummy, 317b, was a little larger and did not have a mask.^[4] Carter unwrapped the smaller mummy, 317a, some time between their discovery and their 1932 examination by anatomist Douglas Derry, who noted the unwrapped state. In 1929 the coffins were transferred to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo^[5] but the mummies were stored separately in the Faculty of Medicine at Cairo University after their 1932 autopsies.^[6]

The mummies of 317a and 317b were each provided with an individual set of inner and outer mummy-shaped coffins. The two sets are nearly identical in design, but differ slightly in size with the outer coffins of 317a and 317b measuring 49.5 centimetres (19.5 in) and 57.7 centimetres (22.7 in) long respectively.^[1] Their form and decoration imitate those used by the nobility and private individuals of the period.^[3] The outer coffins have a black-based design ornamented by gilding. The deceased is depicted as a wrapped mummy wearing a blue and gold striped wig, and a broad collar with falcon-headed terminals. The arms are crossed on the chest and the hands are fisted but hold no emblems. A vulture spreads its wings over the abdomen and gilded vertical and horizontal bands of inscription invoke the deities of the deceased. The goddesses Nephthys and Isis (with two djed-pillars) are depicted kneeling on the top of the head and on the base of the feet respectively. The rest of the surface is filled with black resin.^[7] The lid of each outer coffin was attached to the trough by eight tenons.^[1]

The inner coffins have a similar design but are entirely covered in gold foil. The hieroglyphic inscriptions on both sets of coffins refer "only to a nameless "Osiris" (i.e. the deceased)".^[3] As no names are specified for the children, they are known instead by the object numbers assigned by Carter in the course of the excavation.^[1]

From the time of their discovery, it has been assumed the two infants were the children of Tutankhamun. Carter considered there to be "little doubt" that they were the children of the king and his only known wife Ankhesenamun.^[3] DNA analysis conducted between 2007 and 2009 as part of the Tutankhamun Family Project obtained only partial DNA profiles for 317a and 317b. However, this was enough to conclude that both mummies were the children of Tutankhamun, with probabilities of 99.97992885% and 99.99999299% respectively.^[16] Only a partial DNA profile was obtained from the KV21A mummy but it suggests that she was the mother of the two children. However, the results were not statistically significant enough to be confirmed.^[17]

The causes and circumstances of their deaths are unknown. Carter attributed their deaths to natural causes (such as a miscarriage) but indulged in speculation that the miscarriages may have been orchestrated as "an accident to the expectant mother would have rendered the throne vacant for those eager to step in."^[18]

Carter considered them to be the result of two separate pregnancies^[3] but the burial of 317a and 317b within Tutankhamun's tomb has led to speculation that they died around the same time as him, or at least prior to his burial. In order to explain two babies of different sizes resulting from a single pregnancy, it has been suggested that the two were identical twins with twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, resulting in one twin who was large for its gestational age and one who was much smaller.^[19] Although this diagnosis cannot be proven or disproven by CT analysis, it is considered a "remote possibility" by Hawass and Saleem.^[20] However, as Charlier and colleagues pointed out in a response, the different DNA probabilities between 317a and 317b is enough to rule out the identical twin theory,^[21] which Hawass and Saleem agree with.^[22] Alternatively, the pair are theorized to be fraternal twins which died in utero, with 317a dying first and partially calcifying (lithopedion), before 317b died weeks later.^[21] This is refuted, as 317a does not show any of the obvious signs exhibited by lithopedion, and the poor condition of both is due to improper storage after their unwrapping.^[22]

Regardless of their cause of death, the burial of royal children with their fathers is not unprecedented in the Eighteenth Dynasty, with Webensenu being buried in his father Amenhotep II's tomb, and Amenemhat, Tentamun, and another unnamed child buried with Thutmose IV; all had seemingly predeceased their fathers.^[13] Alternatively, Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt considered their inclusion in their father's burial part of a ritual to ensure his rebirth into the afterlife.^[23]

• Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt family tree