The former doorway is now decorated with religious scenes, which Reeves speculates would have been part of a ritual protection for Nefertiti’s final resting place. KV 62 being King Tut’s tomb.
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In his report, he argues that, of these two chambers, the one designed to serve as a tomb was meant for Queen Nefertiti, wife of Akhenaten and likely King Tutankhamun’s mother.
It’s been nearly a century since King Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered – and it’s still enlightening us on the life and death of ancient Egyptian royalty.
He said one of the entrances could yield an “extraordinary” discovery, perhaps the mummy of Nefertiti, the Egyptian queen who lived in the 14th century B.C. He speculates that the “ghost” doorways would have led to a storage chamber and to “the undisturbed burial of the tomb’s original owner-Nefertiti”.
The burial masks of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamen is proven through the “Tutanchamun – Sein Grab und die Schaetze” Exhibition Preview at Kleine Olympiahalle… However, if the queen’s tomb is indeed where Reeves projected it will be, the boy-king’s tomb size would make sense, as it would appear to be simply an addition to an existing burial chamber. “That thought would not occur until the king’s early and unexpected death a decade later”.
Reeves said that, of course, his speculation would need to be confirmed by an on-the-ground, detailed study, which he suggests should be “one of Egyptology’s highest priorities”.
Ms Tyldesley added: “But I would have expected her to be buried somewhere in the Western Valley, rather than in the centre of the Valley of the Kings”.
King Tutankhamun, a pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, ruled over Egypt around 3,000 years ago.
“Accepting the oddly positioned rock-cut niches as evidence that the burial chamber’s walls were completely solid, [Howard] brought his search to a close – wholly unaware that a more significant find by far may have been lying but inches from his grasp”, he writes. What’s more, Reeves noted that other researchers believe numerous objects in Tut’s tomb were “recycled” from previous kings. Still, archaeologist Nicholas Reeves didn’t stop here.
Speaking to The Economist about his new theory, he said: “If I’m wrong, I’m wrong; but if I’m right this is potentially the biggest archaeological discovery ever made”.
Reeves also posed a hypothesis a few years ago that King Tut’s famous gold headdress was not originally fashioned for him, but for Nefertiti, as well.
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Nicholas Reeves, a British archaeologist at the University of Arizona believes he has found her resting place hidden in plain sight – in the tomb of Tutankhamen.
