SCANS in King Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings point to a hidden chamber, the country’s antiquities minister said, possibly heralding the discovery of Queen Nefertiti’s resting place.
“We can now say that we have [possibly found] behind the burial chamber of King Tutankhamun another chamber, another tomb,” Mamduh al-Damaty said at a press conference, speaking in English.
He said experts were “approximately 90 per cent” sure. The tests were spurred by a study by renowned British archeologist Nicholas Reeves who said Nefertiti’s lost tomb may be hidden in an adjoining chamber.
Speaking at the same press conference, Reeves said the initial results could bear out his theory.
“Clearly it does look from the radar evidence as if the tomb continues, as I have predicted,” he said.
“The radar, behind the north wall [of Tutankhamun’s burial chamber] seems pretty clear. If I am right it is a continuation — corridor continuation — of the tomb, which will end in another burial chamber,” he said.
“It does look indeed as if the tomb of Tutankhamun is a corridor tomb ... and it continues beyond the decorated burial chamber,” he added.
“I think it is Nefertiti and all the evidence points in that direction.” Damaty emphasised that the findings were “preliminary” results, and a Japanese expert working with the archaeologists needed a month to analyse the scans.
The news follows evidence last week that Tutankhamun’s name may have been stamped over that of Nefertiti’s inside his famous death mask. While the faceplace has been replaced with his image, the rest may have been taken from the heretic queen’s burial.
Experts carried out a preliminary scan of the tomb earlier this month using infra-red thermography to map out the temperature of its walls.
Damaty said at that time that the analysis showed “differences in the temperatures registered on different parts of the northern wall” of the tomb.
Nefertiti played a major political and religious role in the 14th century BC. She actively supported her husband Akhenaten — Tutankhamun’s father — who temporarily converted ancient Egypt to monotheism by imposing the cult of sun god Aton.
Her role in the cult would have ruled out her burial in the Valley of the Kings according to Zahi Hawass, the country’s former antiquities minister and expert on ancient Egypt.
“Nefertiti will never be buried in the Valley of the Kings,” he told AFP. “The lady was worshipping Aton with Akhenaten for years. The priests would never allow her to be buried in the Valley of the Kings,” he said.
Tutankhamun died aged 19 in 1324BC after just nine years on the throne. His final resting place was discovered by another British Egyptologist, Howard Carter, in 1922.
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