AN extraordinary investigation by a British Egyptologist suggests that the tomb of Tutankhamun was built for Nefertiti ... and that there are more rooms to be found in the tomb.
Writing in a paper published at ACADEMIA.EDU, Nicholas Reeves bases his theory on new, high-definition color photography of painted scenes in Tutankhamun's burial chamber released in recent months online by Madrid-based art-replication specialists Factum Arte.
"Cautious evaluation of the Factum Arte scans over the course of several months has yielded results which are beyond intriguing: indications of two previously unknown doorways … both seemingly untouched since antiquity," writes Reeves, Associate Curator of Egyptian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
"The implications are extraordinary," he adds, "for, if digital appearance translates into physical reality, it seems we are now faced not merely with the prospect of a new, Tutankhamun-era storeroom to the west; to the north appears to be signalled a continuation of (Tutankhamun's) tomb KV 62 and within these uncharted depths an earlier royal interment … that of Nefertiti herself, celebrated consort, co-regent, and eventual successor of pharaoh Akhenaten."
Reeves points out that archaeologists have always wondered why Tutankhamun's tomb is so tiny. They have also always wondered why it was crammed full of funerary equipment clearly intended for other royal persons.
Nefertiti was co-regent to her husband Akhenaten and in the tumultuous days after his death, she became full regent.
"After a brief, independent reign of perhaps no more than a few months … Nefertiti disappears from view, presumably havingdied or been killed. Responsibility for the subsequent funeral fell to her immediate successor, Tutankhamun," Reeves writes.
"At the time of Nefertiti's burial, there had surely been no intention that Tutankhamun wouldin due course occupy this same tomb. That thought would not occur until the king's early and unexpected death a decade later," he writes.
(Forensic study of Tutankhamun's mummy produced the portrait seen here below right.)
With no tomb yet dug for pharaoh's sole use, Nefertiti's tomb was reopened and enlarged to receive a second burial.
Reeves theorizes: "Possibly, by the time Tutankhamun's burial came to be robbed shortly after the funeral Nevertiti's presence behind the north wall 'blind' was already forgotten; perhaps, and more likely, the robbers simply had insufficient time to investigate, choosing tofocus instead on those abundant riches readily to hand."
Three and a half thousand years later, Howard Carter had the time, but he lacked the technology to see beneath the tomb's painted walls.
Reeves concludes: "Accepting the oddly positioned rock-cut niches as evidence that the Burial Chamber's walls were completely solid, he brought his search to a close … wholly unaware that a more significant find by far may have been lying but inches from his grasp."
Potentially the greatest news to emerge from Egypt for almost 100 years. Reeves makes a very compelling case and I struggle to find any serious holes in his argument. It is debated whether Nefertiti changed her name to Neferneferuaten and if so was she co-ruler with Akhenaten, or ruler in her own right after death of Akhenaten, and it is even more debated about whether, as Reeves suggests, that on the death of Akhenaten she became sole ruler and assumed the male name Smenkhara. However, it is a fact that not a single funerary object with the name Nefertiti or Smenkhara has ever been found, and this is a reasonably sure sign that the tomb or tombs remain undisturbed. Some of Tutankhamun's burial equipment clearly belonged to another pharaoh who was female, and it is generally recognised that this was Neferneferuaten. Reeves says that this equipment was redundant when, presumably, the previous Nefertiti changed name a second time to Smenkhara. To me this does fit. If there is a second burial in KV62 then the equipment will, if Reeves is correct, have a mix of all three names. If so, this will finally show the body in KV55 to be Akhenaten and remove existing doubts. And will we finally see in this possible tomb an account of the "Amarna heresy". Oh, and gold, lots and lots of gold and the most fantastic artifacts :)
ReplyDeleteWell done for posting this news as it is surprisingly not very prominent yet.
Good news on this story. Egyptian minister of antiquities, Mamdouh Eldamaty, and Nicholas Reeves have conducted a visual examination of KV62, and on 28th September Eldamaty announced that there are in fact indications of two hidden doors at the sites suggested by Reeves. Marks and scratchings have been found that, tho hidden from clear view, are very similar to the marks and necropolis seals that Howard Carter found on the blocking to the entrance to KV62 when he discovered it. Also has been determined that the ceiling of the burial chamber over both suspected door sites continues on. A Japanese team of experts with ground penetrating radar will be examening the tomb in October and their results published on 4th November, the 93rd anniversary of the discovery of KV62. It can be seen how Carter has missed these doors, it is to do with the cutouts in the walls for the "magic bricks" and Carter presumably thinking that as these cutouts were into the bedrock then there was nothing beyond the burial chamber. It is our good fortune that for the last 93 years everybody thought that Carter had discovered all there was to know about KV62, and nobody thought to further investigate the tomb. Nefertiti may or may not be buried in this extention of KV62, but it can be reasonably certain that something is behind these doors. The heart begins to beat faster at this....
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