Archeologist Thinks He's Found Nefertiti's Tomb (Inside King Tut's)

An archeologist has a theory about where the famous ancient Egyptian queen Nefertiti might be buried—through a door in her maybe-son Tutankhamun’s tomb. Well, that would be tremendously convenient.

The Economist reports on a paper newly published by the University of Arizona’s Nicholas Reeves, outlining his intriguing theory. Looking at some very detailed photos taken as part of a project to make a replica of the famous boy king’s final resting place, he noticed something:

What Mr Reeves found in these ultra-high-resolution images, which reveal the texture of walls beneath layers of paint in the original tomb, was a number of fissures and cracks that suggest the presence of two passages that were blocked and plastered to conceal their existence….

Noting that the bigger of the two doorways he may have located aligns perfectly with both sides of the tomb’s entrance chamber, Mr Reeves thinks it could conceal a corridor continuing along the same axis, in the scale and shape of other nearby royal tombs. All this, as well as evidence that the tomb’s decoration and construction were executed at different stages, leads him to conclude that this corridor would lead to the burial chamber of a queen, or perhaps several princesses.

Like, for instance, Nefertiti, whose burial site they’ve never managed to track down. And what a burial site it should be, considering her high rank and considerable power.

Nobody’s taking a sledgehammer to any walls on the strength of this theory, obviously, but it’s certainly provocative. Egyptologists contacted for comment by various media outlets seem very cautious, but intrigued. “If I’m wrong, I’m wrong,” Reeves told the BBC. “But if I’m right, the prospects are frankly staggering.” The merchandising opportunities alone make one’s head spin.