Two Hidden Chambers in Tutankhamun’s Tomb Could Revealed by Radar

The bust of Nefertiti, at Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection in the Neues Museum Berlin. Credit: Ulrich Baumgarten/ Getty Images

Two hidden rooms in the walls of Tutankhamun’s tomb have been discovered after radar scanning, stated British archaeologist Nicholas Reeves to the BBC.

UPDATE| The BBC had initially reported the radar scans were complete. However, the article has since been amended to clarify that the ‘radar scans’ referred to were initial scans of the surface. Radar scanning is set to be completed later this month.

Earlier this year, Nicholas Reeves, an archaeologist at the University of Arizona, presented a hypothesis that suggests Nefertiti’s tomb is likely hidden behind King Tutankhamun’s tomb.

After his hypothesis was made public, Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities invited Reeves to Egypt to present the theory to antiquities officials.

Based on the detailed scans and photographs of Tut’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor which were published last year by Factum Arte, a Spanish specialist in art and replication, Reeves noted that beneath the layers of paint, the texture of walls revealed cracks which may suggest the presence of two doors leading to passageways.

While the first door likely leads to a storage room which has already been discovered, the other passageway situated at the north wall of the burial chamber is speculated to lead to a bigger room which may be Nefertiti’s tomb.

“I have been testing the evidence ever since, looking for indications that what I thought I was seeing was, in fact, not there,” Reeves told the BBC. “But the more I looked, the more information I found that I seemed to be looking at something pretty real.”

“If I’m wrong, I’m wrong,” Reeves added. “But if I’m right this is potentially the biggest archaeological discovery ever made.”

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, she was also the Great Royal Wife of the Pharaoh Akhenaten and his chief consort.

In 1922, the world was taken aback by the amount of priceless treasures found intact and retrieved from King Tut’s tomb. Yet, if Nefertiti was the mother and wife of two Ancient Egyptian royals, one can only assume the treasures her tomb must enclose.