Archaeologists close in on Queen Nefertiti tomb behind walls of King Tut burial site
We may be closer than ever to solving the 3,300-year-old mystery of ancient Egypt’s lost heretic queen.The world was instantly infatuated when Nefertiti’s face was brought to light in 1912.The pale limestone-stucco bust was stunningly beautiful.You can’t have missed her.Her exquisite features have appeared on the cover of thousands of books.Not to mention millions of tourist brochures.It’s in souvenir and gift shops.
It’s used to sell beauty and healthcare products.But we don’t know where her body was buried.British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves set the Bastet (holy cat) among the (sacrificial) pigeons in 2015.He suggested her tomb may be hiding in plain sight – if it had hastily been repurposed for the burial of her son, the boy Pharaoh Tutankhamun.He pointed to anomalies in his tomb’s design, paintings and plasterwork as hints this had been the case.But more than a decade of studies have so far failed to find definitive evidence.Now, a study published on Friday in the Occasional Papers of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project is adding fuel to the flames of anticipation.It argues all available evidence points to a series of lost chambers behind the plastered walls of Tutankhamun’s tomb.“Should such an extension eventually be confirmed, it would represent not merely the most important discovery in the Valley of the Kings since the uncovering of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922,” says former Egyptian antiquities minister and Ain Shams University Cairo archaeologist Mamdouh Eldamaty.“It could potentially rank among the most transformative archaeological discoveries of the modern era.”Something isn’t right about King Tut’s tomb.Several somethings.It’s too small.
Its orientation doesn’t conform to established tradition.Nor does its floor plan.It also appears somewhat hastily thrown together.The sacred golden shrine built to house his coffin had to be cut down to size to fit his unconventionally small chamber.
Even his ornate outer coffin had to...