You can’t have missed her.
asserted
You → miss → her
Her exquisite features have appeared on the cover of thousands of books.
asserted
features → appear → books
It’s in souvenir and gift shops.
asserted
It → ’ → shops
It’s used to sell beauty and healthcare products.
asserted
It → use → products
But we don’t know where her body was buried.
asserted
body → know → ?
British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves set the Bastet (holy cat) among the (sacrificial) pigeons in 2015.
asserted
Reeves → set → 2015
He suggested her tomb may be hiding in plain sight – if it had hastily been repurposed for the burial of her son, the boy Pharaoh Tutankhamun.
uncertain
it → suggest → son
He pointed to anomalies in his tomb’s design, paintings and plasterwork as hints this had been the case.
But more than a decade of studies have so far failed to find definitive evidence.
asserted
decade → point → evidence
It argues all available evidence points to a series of lost chambers behind the plastered walls of Tutankhamun’s tomb.
asserted
evidence → argue → tomb
“Should such an extension eventually be confirmed, it would represent not merely the most important discovery in the Valley of the Kings since the uncovering of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922,” says former Egyptian antiquities minister and Ain Shams University Cairo archaeologist Mamdouh Eldamaty.
asserted
Eldamaty → confirm → 1922
“It could potentially rank among the most transformative archaeological discoveries of the modern era.”
uncertain
It → rank → era
It’s too small.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
Its orientation doesn’t conform to established tradition.
asserted
orientation → conform → tradition
Nor does its floor plan.
It also appears somewhat hastily thrown together.
asserted
appears → do → ?
The sacred golden shrine built to house his coffin had to be cut down to size to fit his unconventionally small chamber.
asserted
shrine → build → chamber
Even his ornate outer coffin had to have its feet roughly chopped short to slot into its lavish stone sarcophagus.
asserted
feet → have → sarcophagus
Professor Reeves, who took part in the new analysis of the tomb, points to newly discovered lines and cracks in the north wall of this burial chamber, along with hasty alterations to the room’s paintings, to suggest it conceals a secret.
asserted
it → take → secret
“KV 62 conforms to the architectural grammar of neither a private nor a kingly monument.
asserted
KV → conform → private
The plan Tutankhamun’s tomb follows is that of an Eighteenth Dynasty queen,” he writes in the new report.
asserted
he → follow → report
The tomb’s celebrated discoverer, Howard Carter, held similar suspicions.
asserted
discoverer → hold → suspicions
So much so he secretly reinvestigated the tomb in 1932.
asserted
he → reinvestigate → 1932
But he just found a solid stone wall.
asserted
he → find → wall
“Carter’s choice of test location was significant, reflecting his understanding that, however reduced in size, KV 62 was following an essentially kingly layout.
asserted
KV → reflect → layout
It was not,” explains Prof Reeves.
asserted
Reeves → explain → ?
“Had he recognised the tomb’s queenly orientation, he would have focused his attention on this wall’s opposite, right-hand end – a far more promising section of wall.
asserted
he → recognise → wall
And its wall paintings appear to have been modified to introduce – and overlay – the identity of a new male occupant in a context usually reserved for women.
asserted
paintings → appear → women
But who was female, lived in the short but distinctive Amarna era, and enjoyed full royal status?
asserted
who → live → status
“The current north wall decoration preserves vital specifics of that room’s original role,” Prof Reeves concludes.
“
asserted
Reeves → preserve → role
In it, the officiant had been none other than Tutankhamun as a child, rendered in earlier, Amarna style, and the recipient a ruling woman with the facial characteristics of Nefertiti herself in her long-mooted capacity as Tutankhamun’s ruling predecessor, Smenkhkare.”
asserted
recipient → render → predecessor
Set in stone
“Much has focused on the issue of whether any northern extension to KV 62 might contain the body of Nefertiti,” notes study co-author and geophysicist George Ballard.
uncertain
Ballard → Set → Nefertiti
“To dismiss that sub-hypothesis, however, is a very different matter from denying the primary contention – that Tutankhamun’s tomb has further chambers to reveal.”
asserted
tomb → dismiss → chambers
He argues that the seven surveys conducted since the idea was floated in 2015 have not “definitively refuted” the prospect of hidden chambers.
asserted
idea → argue → chambers
Instead, he identifies what he calls consistently “intriguing features”.
asserted
he → identify → what
“These may be passageways or chambers for which there appears to be some degree of correlation across the various data sources,” Mr Ballard explains.
uncertain
Ballard → appear → sources
The study’s project director agrees.
asserted
director → agree → ?
“The integration of these diverse methodologies and datasets has made it possible to construct a far more nuanced and reliable understanding of the tomb’s true structure,” Mr Eldamaty writes.
asserted
Eldamaty → make → structure
“Although the investigation has not yet reached a final conclusion, the cumulative architectural, decorative, and geophysical indicators strongly suggest the existence of at least one further storage chamber beyond the Burial Chamber’s west wall, and a royal funerary continuation beyond its north wall.
asserted
indicators → reach → wall
But ground-penetrating sensors are a young science.
asserted
sensors → penetrate → ?
And they’ve thrown up plenty of false positives.
asserted
they → throw → positives
The scientific journal Remote Sensing earlier this year retracted a 2022 study claiming satellite radar had revealed hidden structures inside the Great Pyramid of Giza because of “serious methodological flaws and statistical errors.”
asserted
radar → retract → flaws
…and 28 more, not listed.
The Aporia
