Tourists visit the tomb of King Tutankhamun, on display at the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt. Researchers say secret chambers may be hidden in the tomb and could shine new light on one of ancient Egypt’s most turbulent times.
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British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves theorizes in that Tutankhamun, better referred to as King Tut, who died at the age of 19, could have been rushed in to an outer chamber of what was initially Nefertiti’s tomb.
“If I’m right, this is simply part of the entrance to the tomb of Nefertiti”, Reeves said.
High resolution, infrared and radar-based imaging of Tut’s tomb indicate the possibility of a corridor that may lead to another burial chamber. “The possible findings range from nothing at all or unfinished and closed corridors to storage chambers or intact burials with treasures”, cautioned mummy expert Frank Rühli, director of the Institute of Evolutionary Medicine at the University of Zurich. The results are expected in a month.
Some scientists, using DNA testing, have said they believe her mummy was among a group unearthed in 1898 and is in the custody of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Reeves, who searched for Nefertiti’s tomb while he was director of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project (1998-2002) said he thinks Tut’s tomb originally was created for Nefertiti but that the boy king wound up there because he died so young, and Egyptians had no separate tomb prepared for him, National Geographic said. His final resting place was discovered by another British Egyptologist, Howard Carter, in 1922.
“If I’m wrong, I’m wrong”, Reeves has previously said of his theory.
Akhenaten is known for having temporarily converted ancient Egypt to monotheism by imposing the cult of sun god Aton. “But we are working in the Valley of the Kings, so we are expecting to find antiquities behind the wall”. “The priests would never allow her to be buried in the Valley of the Kings”.
“The lady [worshipped] Aton with Akhenaten for years”.
But its layout has been a puzzle for some time – in particular, why it was smaller than those of other kings’ tombs. Further analysis will be required over the next month, but the ministry said there was hope that “an enormous archaeological discovery will be declared soon”.
“The data is being analysed to get a clear picture of what’s behind the wall”, he said.
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“We can not say at this point however the size of the space behind the wall”, Japanese radar specialist Hirokatsu Watanabe said, according to Agence France-Presse.
