He stared at these pictures, available online to anyone with a hankering for Egyptology, for a long time until something popped out at him.
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Reeves has been on a visit to Egypt, ending with a press conference in Cairo on Thursday, to discuss his theory with Egyptian colleagues and for preliminary research in the field.
Carvings are seen on a wall at the Horemheb tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt, Tuesday, September 29, 2015.
American archaeologist Nicholas Reeves was the first to posit the existence of a secret chamber attached to King Tutankhamun’s tomb. Carter, who excavated with a meticulousness that was highly unusual for his era, collected the gritty material, and it’s still stored in a side room of the tomb, where Reeves and the others were able to examine it. “I was nervous about this because it looks as if there’s something here, but let’s face it-it’s ridiculous!”
After inspecting the site yesterday, a team of archaeologists say they’ve found evidence of two previously undiscovered rooms-rooms that may hold the remains of Queen Nefertiti.
Dr Reeves said that digital photos taken of by art organisation Factume in order to reconstruct a replica tomb of Tutankhamun revealed the extended ceiling, traces of two doorways and royal stamps.
“We saw that on the ceiling itself there’s a distinct line”, Reeves explained.
After Nefertiti died, Tut buried her, and then when he died someone chose to extend the tomb, Reeves suggested. The antiquities minister thinks it’s more likely that a woman named Kia, hypothesised to be Tutankhamun’s biological mother, lies within. Nefertiti disappears and he believes she didn’t disappear, but simply changed her name. DNA seemed to support that theory until a genetic investigation by French archaeologist Marc Gabolde reveals the likelihood that King Tut’s mom may have been his father’s first cousin, Nefertiti.
Reeves said the walls could hide two unexplored doorways, one of which perhaps leads to Nefertiti’s tomb. And because no one knew it was there, grave robbers and looters haven’t disturbed it over the intervening centuries.
It’s one of the most elusive burial places in archaeology today.
Reeves hopes that further examination of the tomb wall will be conducted using radar equipment and thermal imaging. He also argues that the design of the tomb suggests it was built for a queen, rather than a king.
Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty is giving Reeves permission to poke around.
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“Maybe a room or a tomb… something there which will be a new addition to Egyptology but I don’t agree that much with him that it is Nefertiti’s tomb there.”
