Hidden Chambers Likely: What Lies Behind King Tut’s Tomb?
Radar scans of King Tut’s tomb in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings reveal that hidden chambers are likely, reinforcing the theory that undiscovered rooms lie behind the painted walls, reported National Geographic. Preliminary examination of the scans revealed evidence that two hidden doorways conceal unopened sections of the pharaoh’s underground burial chamber.
The research prompted Mamdouh al-Damati, who serves as Egypt’s antiquities minister, to say Saturday that experts are also “90 percent” certain that another chamber lies behind the northern wall of the tomb, calling the discovery “one of the most important finds of the century.”
“The radar scan tells us that on this side of the north wall, we have two different materials. We believe that there could be another chamber.”
As for what might lie within the hidden chambers, British archaeologist Nicholas Reeves believes the tomb likely contains another royal burial site. He has speculated that it belongs to Queen Nefertiti, who was King Tutankhamen’s mother in law, and who may have also ruled as a female pharaoh during Egypt’s 18th Dynasty, Yahoo! News reported.
Experts confident secret chamber in #KingTut’s tomb belongs to #Nefertiti https://t.co/hgdPtA7Y2P #Egypt pic.twitter.com/pOMBL0puUV
— Daily News Egypt (@DailyNewsEgypt) November 28, 2015
Married to King Tut’s father Akhenaten, Nefertiti reportedly played a major political and religious role during the 14th century B.C.E. As such, her tomb would represent a major find for Egyptologists, who have been trying for decades to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding her final resting place. Reeves said at a press conference Saturday in Luxor that the initial results of the new scans could easily bear out his theory.
“Clearly it does look from the radar evidence as if the tomb continues, as I have predicted. If I am right it is a continuation of the tomb, which will end in another burial chamber. I think it is Nefertiti and all the evidence points in that direction.”
The scans were conducted by Japanese radar specialist Hirokatsu Watanbe and also revealed evidence of a hidden doorway in the adjoining west wall. Reeves first made his theories public in July and since then a number of experts have examined the physical features of the burial chamber, finding evidence to support his ideas. Until now, however, radar scans have never been conducted in the tomb and as such they represent an important step forward for researchers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=algk0ONQH-Y
According to National Geographic, the scans have allowed specialists to collect data about the material structure of the walls and the open spaces behind them for the first time in history. Experts believe the hidden chambers are likely to contain a variety of artifacts and burial goods, possibly even rivaling those that were recovered from the tomb of Tutankhamen. Although the tomb is not “giving up its secrets easily,” Reeves feels researchers are closer than ever to finding an answer about what lies behind the walls.
“Everything is adding up. It’s another result. Nothing is contradicting the basic direction of the theory.”
Reeves believes that King Tut was buried in a hurried ceremony in an underground chamber that was not actually built for him, when he died suddenly after spending only nine short years on the throne at the age of 19 in 1324 B.C.E. Since King Tut’s mausoleum was not yet built at this time, Reeves surmises that priests opted to open up the tomb of Nefertiti, who had passed away just 10 years earlier, to use one of its chambers for the young king’s final resting place.
Reeves told National Geographic that the entire recent investigation into what lies beyond the tomb of King Tut has been “driven by high technology,” and that the most interesting discovery occurred on the Internet when a Madrid-based team conducted high-resolution laser scans of the tomb in 2009.
“The nice thing about the scans is that for the first time ever we were able to see the actual physicality of the walls of the tomb. If you look at the painted scenes, the decoration obscures that, but take away the paint, and you see a completely different landscape.”
[AP Photo / Amr Nabil, File]
