The Egyptians believe that the tunnel leads to a secret crypt where Nefertiti, the beauty queen of the ancient world, is buried.
Employees of the authoritative scientific journal Nature have access to the report, which recently prepared, but have not yet been published by Egyptian researchers led by Mamduh el-Damati, a former minister of antiquities and cultural heritage of Egypt, and now a professor at Ain Shams University in Cairo. … The report contains data obtained during the "scanning" of the immediate vicinity of Tutankhamun's tomb using the so-called ground penetrating radar (GPR) - a radar that supposedly allows you to detect hidden cavities and various "foreign bodies" in the soil and solid rock.
The data of current research indicate: a few meters east of Tutankhamun's burial chamber is an extended hollow space - a kind of tunnel or corridor 10 meters long and 2 meters high. It is laid at the same depth as the burial chamber, stretches parallel to the passage that leads to it and perpendicular to the main axis of the entire tomb, known in the archaeological world under the code KV62.
Tutankhamun's tomb: the location of the alleged secret rooms (pink) and the tunnel (blue).
The "three-room" tomb of Tutankhamun was discovered in 1922 - along with his sarcophagus, his mummy inside, a golden mask and numerous items that could be useful in the afterlife.
In 2015, British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves, who works at the University of Arizona, published a report in which he insisted: the tomb of Tutankhamun - to the room with his sarcophagus - is adjoined by two more secret rooms, the passages to which are walled up and plastered. The scientist pointed to the characteristic marks he noticed on the walls.
According to Reeves, one of the secret rooms most likely contains the tomb of Nefertiti, whose body has not yet been "officially" found.
Diagram illustrating Reeves' speculation for two additional chambers in the tomb.
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Nefertiti, which literally means "beauty to come", lived 3300 years ago. She was the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV). And at least, the stepmother of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Or even his mother. She died in 1330 BC at the age of 29 to 38 years. She died and disappeared. They are still looking for it.
Bust of Nefertiti found by German archaeologists.
Reeves believes that Nefertiti was originally buried in a vast, multi-room crypt that was exclusively reserved for her. But Tutankhamun, who died suddenly 9 years after Nefertiti, “pressed” his mother. Because they didn't manage to make a separate tomb for him. As a result, Nefertiti's mummy was transferred to an adjoining cell, walled up, and Tutankhamun himself was laid in a “walk-through” room, in which he was later found.
“The crypt in which Tutankhamun's sarcophagus was discovered in 1922 is rather small for a pharaoh,” Reeves reasoned. - Most likely it is part of a larger 5-6-room room, which was originally arranged exclusively for Queen Nefertiti.
The Egyptian authorities believed Reeves. They did not pound the walls of the tomb. Mamdouh el-Damati - then the Minister of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage of Egypt - allowed to begin with a non-destructive survey using GPR. In early 2016, this was done by Japanese specialists under the leadership of Hirokatsu Watanabe. They assured: behind one of the walls, two hidden rooms are really "visible". In one of them - some kind of organic matter, in the other - it looks like metal.
Archaeologists * shine * through * the wall with GPR.
The Japanese encouraged Mamduh, who promised that he would allow drilling one of the walls of Tutankhamun's tomb in order to push the camera through the hole.
Alas, it never came to a hole in the wall, which could prove or disprove the hypothesis of a "secret room" with Nefertiti's mummy inside. In 2016, Mamdukh was removed from his post. His place was taken by Khaled al-Annani, who insisted on additional research. In 2018, they were conducted by Italian archaeologists from the Polytechnic University in Turin, led by Francesco Porcelli, who used high-precision radar. But they did not reveal any convincing features that would indicate that there are any cavities outside the walls of the tomb. Doctor Mustafa Waziri, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt, then entered with a corresponding message. (Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities - SCA)
The year 2020 has arrived. In early February, Mamduh el-Damati, who did not abandon his attempts to find a "secret room", discovered a 10-meter corridor, which he reported to SCA and, apparently, to. Nature. Now he is waiting for permission to move on - it is possible that through the walls of the tomb. Thus, the score in the correspondence competition between skeptics and those who believe in the posthumous neighborhood of Tutankhamun and Nefertiti became equal. Became 2: 2.
After all, two studies - Reeves himself and the Japanese - demonstrated the presence of secret rooms. The Italian didn't reveal anything, but Mamdukh succeeded. Even if not quite in the places that his colleagues were interested in. According to the former minister, the cavity he discovered in the immediate vicinity of the tomb of Tutankhamun still refers to her. And it was laid for a reason.
Location of the tomb of Tutankhamun.
This is how the entrance to the tomb of Tutankhamun looks from the side.
Conclusion: the hope of finding Nefertiti somewhere near Tutankhamun remains. Maybe the walls of his tomb will finally be drilled. And then they will break.
BTW
Alien mask
Reeves believes that the famous golden burial mask of Tutankhamun is not his - not Tutankhamun. It was actually intended for Nefertiti.
Firstly, the look of the mask is not just very feminine, but there is a clear portrait resemblance to the bust of a beauty. Secondly, the ears of the mask are pierced. What is typical for female images. And most importantly, it has a retouched seal with the name of Nefertiti.
All this was discovered during the restoration of the mask, from which the beard fell off. It was eventually glued. So maybe the beard shouldn't have been?
Tutankhamun's head and his golden mask.
VLADIMIR LAGOVSKY