After several months of studying, the geophysical research conducted by the Italian team from Polytechnic University in Turin, showed no hidden rooms behind the walls of King Tutankhamun’s tomb, said Mustafa al-Waziri, secretary general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.
The results of the study were shared by the Polytechnic University of Turin’s Francesco Porcelli at the fourth International Tutankhamun Conference currently held in Cairo. Mr Porcelli explained the work “shows in a conclusive manner that there are no hidden chambers, no corridors adjacent to Tutankhamun’s tomb”.
“Recent radar scans of Tutankhamun’s tomb conclusively prove that there are no additional chambers or passages behind the walls of the famed pharaoh’s burial chamber in the Valley of the Kings,” he added.
An investigation of the young pharaoh’s tomb had been launched three years ago when British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves theorised claims that the legendary Queen Nefertiti, who some believe was Tutankhamun’s mother, was buried in a concealed chamber attached to her alleged son’s tomb. Dr Reeves claimed that the tomb originally belonged to Nefertiti, but its outer chambers were hastily used to bury her son after his untimely death. He proposed the existence of two hidden chambers, a store room and a burial chamber, a layout which more closely resembles the types of tombs of ancient Egypt’s royalty.
[https://en.wataninet.com/culture/egyptology/mystery-hidden-in-tutankhamuns-tomb/14819/]
Back in 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb of the Tutankhamun who died in 1323BC. The tomb was found intact with its treasures of gold funerary furniture thrown higgledy piggledy in a set of small chambers. That the tomb was smaller than the usual kings’ tombs in ancient Egypt was not surprising; Tutankhamun died at the age of 18, so there had not been time during his reign for builders and decorators to prepare a proper tomb fit for an Egyptian king. At the time of the discovery, however, Carter made a remark which now appears to gain special importance: “The unfamiliar plan of the tomb repeatedly caused us to ask ourselves in perplexity whether it was really a tomb or a royal cache?” he asked.
The Tutankhamun full collection is now being moved from its current locations, mainly at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo but also sporadically in other museums or sites, to the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) on the Giza Pyramids Plateau.
Some 7,000 square metres of space at the GEM have been allocated to showcase the collection of which 4,549 pieces from a total 5,000 have already been moved. The latest move, carried out two days ago, involved Tutankhamun’s sixth chariot.[https://en.wataninet.com/features/tutankhamuns-sixth-chariot-moved-to-new-museum/23973/]
The GEM which will showcase antiquities that span Egypt’s ancient history, is still under construction; its partial opening is scheduled for later this year.
Watani International
7 May 2018