A radar scan of the tomb of King Tutankhamun (also known as King Tut) discovered two rooms hidden behind the walls of the tomb.
King Tut’s golden coffin – Photo: AP
According to CNET, the first phase of radar scanning of King Tut’s tomb in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, which began in November 2015, has just been completed.
According to information announced by Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh el-Damaty at a press conference on March 17, two newly discovered rooms were built hidden behind the northern and western walls of King Tut’s burial chamber.
Mr. El-Damaty did not speculate whether these rooms contained any treasure, but only noted that radar waves showed the presence of metallic materials, organic materials in the northern room and organic materials in the room. West.
Even if these two rooms did not contain gold or precious jewelry, this discovery would still be significant.
“It’s like discovering Tutankhamun’s tomb all over again and could be the discovery of the century. It is very important to Egyptian history and to the whole world,” Mr. El-Damaty said.
The famous mask was buried with King Tutankhamun – Photo: CNET
The radar scanning was conducted according to a hypothesis put forth by anthropology scholar Nicholas Reeves of the University of Arizona, who is also an expert in Egyptology.
Accordingly, after studying high-resolution photos of King Tut’s tomb, Mr. Reeves said that many lines of connecting materials on the walls showed that they were built on door frames.
This expert also believes that researchers will find the lost body of Queen Nefertiti, wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten and King Tut’s father.
Akhenaten’s body may have been found in the Valley of the Kings according to DNA testing results that are related to King Tut’s DNA. However, Queen Nefertiti’s body has never been found.
Expert Reeves believes that King Tut’s tomb was originally built for his queen, who died in 1330 BC. However, when King Tutankhamun suddenly died at the age of 19 in 1323, it was used for reburial because the king had a short life. And Queen Nefertiti’s body was placed in a hidden room that had just been discovered by radar waves.
Although she was queen, Nefertiti may have been queen for about six years, and that is why she was buried here.
Anthropologist Reeves also believes that the famous mask buried with King Tutankhamun was also originally made for a woman.
However, Egyptian Minister of Antiquities El-Damaty also thought of other possibilities. He believes that the secret room could hide the body of King Tutankhamun’s mother, Kiya, or his half-sister or his wife, Ankhesenamun.
But whoever it is, we need to wait a little longer.
The next step in this verification process is to continue scanning using radar waves with more modern equipment to obtain detailed information about the secret rooms, their specific sizes, and the thickness of the paintings. The wall separates them from King Tut’s tomb.
The results of the next radar scan will be announced at a press conference on April 1.