A new series of radar scans has revealed more secrets, but experts caution an impatient world that the results require patient study before any firm details can be revealed.
Egypt's new antiquities minister says that a third round of radar scans seeking hidden chambers in the famous chamber offered more hints in the search for what could be Queen Nefertiti's tomb.
"We have a lot of information. So at this moment, 10 hours after finishing work, we can't say 100 per cent whether there is something or not," Antiquities Minister Khaled El-Anany said after the scans were complete.
It will take at least a week to review the extensive data collected by two types of radar scanners, he said. The team needs time to remove signal interference and anomalies in the data, said Mohamed Abbas, the head of the Egyptian team involved in the research.
A fourth round of scanning, using yet another technique, is scheduled for later in April, followed by an international conference of experts on May 8 to discuss the findings.
Earlier, it was officially confirmed that the secret chambers behind hidden doorways in the tomb of Tutankhamun "contain either metal or organic material."
Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities announced that two previously un-discovered chambers have been revealed by scans of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings.
The Ministry said that the two chambers, on the North and Eastern walls of the tomb, contain either metal or organic material, according to scans carried out by Japanese radar specialist Hirokatsu Watanabu.
New scans will be conducted later this month to determine the exact dimensions of the chambers, said the Ministry.
The revelations come months after Egypt's Minister of Antiquities said there was a 90 per cent chance that one or more hidden chambers were concealed in the tomb.
The latest findings, which lend credence to British archaeologist Nicholas Reeves' theory that NEFERTITI could be buried in those secret chambers.
At a news conference in November, fittingly held at Howard Carter's Rest House on Luxor's West Bank, the Minister of Antiquities, Dr. Mamdouh El-Damaty, announced that the radar scans of Tutankhamun's Burial Chamber revealed there is A LARGE VOID behind what we now know is a false wall in Tutankhamun's Burial Chamber.
It strongly suggests that the antechamber continues through the burial chamber as a corridor.
Reeves believes that what looks like a solid, painted wall, is actually a ruse designed to foil tomb robbers.
A number of other tombs in the Valley of the Kings used the same device. Tutankhamun's seems to be the only one that worked.
So what's next?
The Minister of Antiquities suggests that the next step is to drill as small hole in the wall of the side room known as theTreasury.
It adjoins the "void" behind the wall in the Burial Chamber.
And, importantly, it has no painted decoration that could be damaged.
If a camera reveals artefacts within the chamber behind the wall, then a tunnel starting from the Treasury might be the best bet.
But for now, let's congratulate Dr. Nicholas Reeves for the results so far. He spotted something that ancient thieves, Howard Carter, and hundreds of scientists since missed - the outline of a hidden doorway in Tutankhamun's tomb.
Not only was Nefertiti famous for her beauty, which remains evident through her world-renowned 3,300-year-old painted limestone bust housed at the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, but she was also the Great Royal Wife of the Pharaoh Akhenaten and his chief consort.
Not only was Nefertiti famous for her beauty, which remains evident through her world-renowned 3,300-year-old painted limestone bust housed at the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, but she was also the Great Royal Wife of the Pharaoh Akhenaten and his chief consort.
Nefertiti's burial site has long been a mystery as archaeologists have so far failed to find the queen’s tomb.
King Tutankhamun's tomb was found in 1922 under the supervision of another British archaeologist and Egyptologist, Howard Carter.
King Tutankhamun's tomb was found in 1922 under the supervision of another British archaeologist and Egyptologist, Howard Carter.
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