Her image is one of the most well-known left to the world from ancient Egypt, originally as a bust stolen from Egypt by unscrupulous German thieves masquerading as archaeologists, and latterly from a million necklaces, tea-towels and t-shirts. Now the distinctive profile of Egyptian queen Nefertiti has appeared in the most unexpected of places - a piece of flat bread (or aish baladi as it is called by Arabic-speakers and Egyptologists alike) served up as part of an archaeologists' breakfast at Tell el-Amarna.

The unmistakeable outline of the wife of Akhenaten was spotted by 59 year-old soil scientist Victoria Sturgeon amongst the usual breakfast provisions laid out at 6am last Thursday. Speaking to us from Amarna yesterday, Sturgeon recalled the moment she made her discovery: "I was only half awake, so I'd almost put the bread in my mouth before I noticed something odd about it. I don't know what it was - perhaps some voice from the ancient past whispered down the ages - but I took a closer look at the bread and there it was: Nefertiti. As clear as you like. My head's still spinning from all this - I don't know yet what this all means, but I'm a very spiritual person, and I think maybe this is Nefertiti's way of speaking to the modern world. I think she's trying to communicate something through me. And, you know, via the bread. I think maybe she has something to say about the war in Iraq or the damage we're doing to the planet. Or the credit crunch, or something."

Since Sturgeon was breakfasting with no less than three experts on Amarna-period art at the time Nefertiti's image first appeared to her, the identification of the queen seems proven beyond any doubt. Nevertheless, at least two co-authored papers on the subject are currently being prepared for publication, and early reports suggest they will adopt diametrically opposed positions on the place this latest image must now take in the art history of the Amarna Period.

Sturgeon was guarded when questioned about her own plans to profit from the miraculous find. She refused to confirm rumours that she is in talks with the National Geographic channel, though speculation has already begun that the childless spinster might be close to signing an exclusive deal with the company. One TV insider told us: "people are excited about Vicky. She could be just what's needed to make soil science sexy".

Wherever overnight fame arrives, it seems jealousy and back-biting are never far behind. By the time of going to press, Egyptastic has already been contacted by several disgruntled members of the Amarna team. One student archaeologist, who wished to remain anonymous, told us that work on site now regularly starts more than half an hour late each morning. "Hardly anything gets eaten," he told us. "Everyone just sits around now turning every bit of bread over and slicing into bananas in a dozen different ways. It's not just over meals now, either. David was convinced for days that his flea bites were in the shape of an ankh, and Susan thought the image of Akhenaten had appeared in the side of her trench."

"It turned out just to be a statue of Akhenaten", he added.

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