Archaeologist Heads to Egypt to Find Nefertiti's Tomb

Brit Nicholas Reeves thinks she was buried next to son Tutankhamun
By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 22, 2015 7:38 AM CDT
Archaeologist Heads to Egypt to Find Nefertiti's Tomb
The Nefertiti bust is pictured during a press preview of the exhibition 'In The Light Of Amarna' at the Neues Museum in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012.   (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, pool)

British archaeologist Nicholas Reeves, who made news last month with his announcement that the long-lost tomb of Nefertiti is likely hidden behind secret doors in her son Tutankhamun's tomb, is headed to Egypt to put his theory to the test, reports PhysOrg. Nefertiti, the famously beautiful and powerful wife of Pharaoh Akhenaton, who led his kingdom to worship one god, Aton, lived some 3,300 years ago, reports Egyptian Streets. The tomb of her son, the so-called "boy king" who ruled from age 10 until his death at 19 in 1324BC, was discovered in 1922.

Reeves, who contends that high-res scans of the walls of King Tut's tomb reveal "distinct linear traces" that suggest secret doorways to a "still unexplored storage chamber," says that Tutankhamun's premature death came before his own tomb was constructed, and thus he was placed in Nefertiti's tomb 10 years after her death—rendering the tomb's treasures his mother's leftovers. Reeves is due to arrive Monday to join other Egyptologists and examine the tomb's interior, while Egypt's antiquities ministry announced over the weekend the closure of Tut's tomb in October for restoration. A news conference has already been set for Oct. 1 in Cairo to announce preliminary findings and an action plan. (Check out how the famous Nefertiti bust was essentially Photoshopped.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X