Scans show evidence of secret chambers in King Tut's tomb
In the very near future, a major mystery at Tutankhamen's tomb may be solved.
On Thursday, the Egyptian antiquities minister, Mamdouh Eldamaty, announced in Cairo that recent radar scans on the west and north walls of the burial chamber show the presence of hidden chambers containing metal and organic objects. "It could be the discovery of the century," Eldamaty said. He wouldn't speculate on just what might be inside the chambers, but did say that another radar scan will be conducted later this month to determine how thick the walls are, giving officials a better idea of how to go about gaining access to the chambers.
When the more than 3,000-year-old tomb was first discovered in 1922, archaeologist Howard Carter found more than 5,000 artifacts in what turned out to be the most intact royal tomb ever uncovered. One theory is that Nefertiti, King Tut's stepmother, may be buried behind the north wall, and if that's the case, researchers will have to "re-look at everything," Kara Cooney, an Egyptologist at UCLA, told National Geographic.
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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