• 12:40
  • Friday ,28 August 2015
العربية

Where is Nefertiti’s tomb?

By-Zahi Hawass-egyptindependent

Opinion

00:08

Friday ,28 August 2015

Where is Nefertiti’s tomb?

English archaeologist Nicholas Reeves has said that the tomb of Queen Nefertiti, wife of King Akhenaten, could be inside the tomb of Tutankhamun.

Although what he said was an assumption in an article, some newspapers took it as a confirmation that Nefertiti’s tomb was discovered in the Valley of the Kings.
 
Reeves said he came up with this assumption after he studied the laser three-dimensional pictures of Tutankhamun’s tomb, in which he noticed that there are shadows and lines in the northern and western walls of the tomb that could be of two rooms hidden inside, which may be the burial chambers of the queen.
 
He said the northern wall contains a drawing of King Ay, who came after Tutankhamun, performing the ritual of opening the mouth of Tutankhamun, which he believes is actually the mouth of Queen Nefertiti.
 
This idea is entirely fictional and is not scientifically proven. For hallucinations can happen to anyone looking at three-dimensional pictures. A man saw before shadows resembling a plane on the walls of the Seti Temple in Abydos.
 
Also, Howard Carter spent 10 years working inside the tomb, carefully studying the walls and the artifacts, which means he would have discovered the additional burying chambers if they were there.
 
The idea of ​​a tomb inside another tomb was not known before the 19th Dynasty. Also, if it is Nefertiti’s mouth, her name would have been written with the other names on the wall. Moreover, Reeves referred to the British lady known as Om Seti, who said Nefertiti is buried in the Valley of the Kings, whereas no archaeologist recognizes Om Seti as a reference.
 
I think that the Antiquities Ministry should form a committee that includes Reeves to investigate the matter. It should use a radar to check the vacuum behind the walls. But should there be a vacuum, who would agree to demolish the walls of the tomb without strong evidence of two hidden chambers?
 
The only thing I liked about this story is the positive publicity it made for Egypt for the first time after the opening of the new Suez Canal.