The evidence is piling higher and higher in favor of King Tut’s tomb hiding a secret chamber. A second series of scans that began this week have reaffirmed previous findings, and Egyptian officials claim to be “approximately 90 percent sure” a hidden chamber lies behind the north wall of Pharaoh Tutankhamen’s tomb.
A growing body of evidence
Using the same radar as the first round of scans, researchers measured the temperature differentials of the north wall of Tut’s tomb in Luxor, and found similar readings as before—meaning there could be a room or hallway behind that wall.
“Clearly it does look from the radar evidence as if the tomb continues, as I have predicted,” said Nicholas Reeves, the Egyptologist who convinced officials to investigate this possibility, at a press conference with the Egyptian Antiquities Minister Mamdouh al-Damati on Saturday, the AFP reported.
“The radar behind the north wall 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.
According to Minister el-Damaty, these scans are only preliminary, and are being sent to Japan for further analysis.
Who’s in the room?
As to who is buried in this possible chamber, the jury is still out.
“I think it is Nefertiti and all the evidence points in that direction,” said Reeves. Nefertiti is a reasonable guess; she was likely Tutankhamun’s stepmother. When he died suddenly at age 19—perhaps before his own burial chamber was finished—they could have placed him in hers instead.
Further, Reeves believes he just discovered that Tut’s burial mask was actually repurposed from Nefertiti’s, after finding what appear to be traces of her name erased and replaced with his on the inscription.
Mminister el-Damaty, however, is more inclined to believe that such a chamber belongs to someone like Kiya, who was a co-wife with Nefertiti in Pharaoh Akhenaten’s court.
Zahi Hawass, the former antiquities minister of Egypt, agreed. Nefertiti is unlikely to be found buried in Luxor, he said, because of her participation in a monotheistic cult instituted by her husband.
“Nefertiti will never be buried in the Valley of the Kings,” he told AFP. “The lady was worshipping Aton [the monotheistic sun god] with Akhenaten for years. The priests would never allow her to be buried in the Valley of the Kings.”
All this aside, none of the work—the scans, or the findings on Tutankhamun’s mask—have been peer-reviewed, meaning the findings are yet to be vetted by the greater scientific community. And, should the data solidly confirm the presence of a chamber, there is the trifling problem about actually getting to it.
“The data is being analysed to get a clear picture of what’s behind the wall,” said el-Damaty. “The next step, which we will announce once we agree on it, will be accessing what’s behind the wall without damaging the tomb.”
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Image credit: Thinkstock
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