There May Indeed Be a Mystery Room Through a Door in King Tut's Tomb

An update on the archeologist who thinks he might have found Nefertiti’s final resting place through a well-concealed door in King Tut’s tomb: The jury is very much still out on whether he’s found Nefertiti, but it’s starting to look like he could have found something.

Nicholas Reeves first floated his theory back in August, after examining high-quality photographs of the boy king’s burial chamber (which were taken as part of a project to build a thorough reproduction). Egypt’s Antiquities Ministry was sufficiently persuaded to do a round of intense scanning, using technology including radar. In a press conference to talk preliminary findings, the AFP reports, official Mamduh al-Damati said they’re “approximately 90 percent” they’ve found some sort of hidden chamber.

They’re working on analyzing the scans further—and mind you, this is still the easy part. The hard part would be getting into the chamber without damaging Tut’s tomb. It’s not like they can just take a sledgehammer to the wall of a priceless world historical site—especially if they’re not exactly sure what’s on the other side.

Reeves was at the press conference and still sounds confident:

“Clearly it does look from the radar evidence as if the tomb continues, as I have predicted,” he said.

“The radar, behind the north wall (of Tutankhamun’s burial chamber) seems pretty clear. If I am right it is a continuation — corridor continuation — of the tomb, which will end in another burial chamber,” he said.

“It does look indeed as if the tomb of Tutankhamun is a corridor tomb… and it continues beyond the decorated burial chamber,” he added.

He still says it could be Nefertiti. However, former antiquities minster Zahi Hawass says no way, no how would Nefertiti be in the Valley of the Kings, because she was involved in Tut’s father’s short-lived monotheistic sun cult. Al-Damati thinks it’s more likely another wife.

Of course, it could also be a broom closet. Or an empty room full of ancient Egyptian dust bunnies.