A celebrated Pharaoh of Egypt , a mysterious name written on all of his sepulture gem , and a possible cloak-and-dagger tomb hiding in plain hatful for almost a century — all the makings of a great ancient Egyptian mystery story . And it start out better : this grave might control the remains of one ofthe only women to rein over ancient Egypt .
intromit it — you ’re concerned .
Last yr , British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves of the University of Arizona publish a report online titled " The Burial of Nefertiti ? " Using high - solvent scan of the bulwark ofKing Tutankhamen ’s grave , Reeves discovered irregularities in the walls that suggest threshold that were blocked up and plastered over before the inhumation of the famous pharaoh . King Tut ’s tomb is something of an anomaly , due to the fact that the layout and nontextual matter seem to have been design for a king rather than a king . In his report , Reeves indicate this might be because it was originally designed for Tut ’s stepmother , Nefertiti , whose tomb has never been found .
King Tutankhamen was actually a less Pharaoh of Egypt of ancient Egypt , but these Day he ’s a pretty big deal . Rising to business leader at just 9 twelvemonth onetime , and deadened by 19 , he in all probability was n’t a very influential king , but due to his relative political insignificance and sudden death , his mummywas bury in a little tomb , which was buried in dust a few hundred years later by workers carving out a internet site in the Valley of the Billie Jean King for the tomb of Ramses IV . As a result , Tut ’s grave was overlooked by grave robbers for over 3,000 years until its breakthrough by archaeologist Howard Carter and his supporter Lord Carnarvon in 1922 , pee it the first intact royal Egyptian grave discovered in modern times . It contained one thousand of pieces of art , furniture , and jewelry , many of which bore the name of Tutankhamen . But what ’s always puzzle Egyptologist is why King Tut ’s name was paint over that of another pharaoh : Smenekhkare .
" It ’s possible there ’s a whole floor within a story that was right under our noses , " says Egyptologist Stephen Harvey , director of theAhmose and Tetisheri Project . " It take up many years to dig out and prepare one of these tombs , along with all the golden target , the coffins , the thrones and chariots and everything else . When a pharaoh drop dead unexpectedly , they ’d have a problem . What seems to have been done is a peck of material was really reused — not just once , but some of them over and over again . "
Nicholas Reeves has been looking nearly at Tutankhamen ’s burying for decennary , and when the Getty Museum in Los Angeles made full - scale scan of the wall decoration in King Tut ’s tomb , Reeves was able-bodied to near whizz along in super - airless on the mural , and even to polish off the paint to analyze the wall itself . When he removed the paint , Reeves notice what take care like blocked - up doorways .
" rent ’s just say if all Reeves found was a impede up threshold in Tutankhamen ’s grave , that ’s still moderately exciting , " enunciate Harvey . " But he end up published an article arguing that the original tomb equipment was made for Queen Nefertiti , who was , in his feeling , briefly on the throne of Egypt as a pharaoh , which was a manlike gender identity . "
Though there ’s important argumentation among Egyptologist about the issue , it ’s Reeve ’s opinion that Smenekhkare was the masculine name espouse by Nefertiti when she rose to the throne , and that her sovereignty directly preceded Tutankhamen ’s . When Tutankhamen died before his any of his funerary equipment was quick , they just repurposed Nefertiti ’s equipment and walled off her burial bedroom , burying the boy business leader in the other side .
In 2015 , thermographic and radar scan done on the walls of the tomb evoke there might be a out of sight chambers behind the wall , and that the chambers might contain metal and constitutive material . In March , however , a squad of National Geographic microwave radar specialistswere unable even to replicate results that said there was a chamber behind the wall .
" The Valley of the Kings is made of limestone , and the ancient Egyptians dug down through different strata until they got to the purest , whitest stone , " says Harvey . " Sometimes they had to turn over retiring layers of flint , which is a really hard stone . From what I understand , this flint can make radar or sonar results very hard to translate . Maybe we should just have got out for when we have upright technology . "
In just a few months , what was at first a theory limit forth by a respected Egyptologist has become a raging political result . Since Reeves ' article was published last twelvemonth , the Egyptian curate of ancientness has changed , from Mamdouh Eldamaty , who was very pro - Reeves , to Khaled El - Enany , who recently declare at the Second Annual Tutankhamen Grand Egyptian Museum Conference in Cairo that"no physical exploration will be allow unless there is 100 per centum foregone conclusion that there is a cavity behind the wall . "
The conference included a yelling friction match between Eldamaty and the former antiquities minister under President Hosni Mubarak , Zahi Hawass ( who is something of a celebrity in Egypt , with his ownclothing lineandreality show ) .
" When this first come out and I read [ reef ' ] article , I had to fan myself , " say Harvey . " It would be one of the most extraordinary stories in history : we have what we recollect is the greatest treasure ever found , and there ’s a whole other one behind it . It ’s like something out of a movie . But if you involve me today if I think we ’ll have any clearness on this in the coming year or two , I ’d in all probability say no . "
