The seasonal work force of the Nile - native or non-native? These young men may have been conscripted into the Egyptian work force that built Amarna. IF they were of the peasant caste and the descendants of slaves or soldier slaves-they would logically not have much in terms of material wealth and like the felahin today, suffer from parasites and malnutrition.

And Katherine, again, I never stated that the king HAD to marry anyone so I am confused why you repeat your assertion? Amenhotep II and Amenhotep III are different kings.
Amenhotep II's mother was Egyptian. Amenhotep III's mother was Mittani. While I do respect your considerable authority on Egyptian history, your precepts of patriarchal inheritance presented here are not reflective of the ancient tradition of land ownership passed down via matrilineal pathways- these are common throughout East Africa and are a part of our oldest cultural roots.

If Sitamun's parents are Thutmose IV and Iaret, any hereditary prince or tribal chief of a powerful sepat could theoretically become rivals to Amenhotep III and his patrilineal successors.
Amenhotep III married Sitamun to keep her from becoming someone else's powerful wife.
He married her to bolster his own political image and like his grandfather Amenhotep II, he blocked the ascension of any female second prophet of Amen.

Theoretically speaking, Amenhotep III usurped Sitamun's birthright, that is, if she was in fact, the daughter of Iaret who was in turn the daughter of Tia.

While alot of Western Egyptologists are most concerned with royalty the bias is essentially to study the hegemony of the king. For a native East African, perhaps we can recognize certain nuances about the structure of society and hereditary roles that do not resonate as readily for Westerners? In other words, there are common threads of inheritance
still passed down amongst the Hadendoa, the Beja and Western Desert Indigene that mirror those of ancient ancestors. We haven't really changed all that much. Certain lineages are older than others and in some cultures like our own, men are unfortunately expendable. One never knows if they will return again after a war or seasonal work or what have you. For this reason, water and land rights are passed down through women- not in every single family mind you but in important families- old families with the most ancient roots and the largest land holdings. That would amount to political strength when push comes to shove. The prestige of the nuclear family even amongst the gods is well attested in Egyptian culture. The lines both male and female were something that families take great pride in. A powerful king like Amenhotep II altered history and possibly was violent to history in ending a tradition promised to the matrilinear founders of the dynasty.

Amenhotep III was the product of diplomatic marriage. He married a sepat heiress - forget about royal blood for a moment- a sepat heiress- some of them descended of Astet or Sekhmet, Mut herself supposedly- not royal-but rather divine. He married a few more sepat heiresses including Sitamun because he could and so that no one else could. This way whatever land holdings of their people that belonged to them by birthright- important temples or agricultural lands for example- became his in a matter of speaking.

The Ta-Seti of the Eastern Desert were actually known in oral tradition as the Inyotef Ta-Seti.