Possible 'Hidden Chamber' in King Tut's Tomb Invites More Secretive Scans
By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor | February 16, 2017 07:15am ET
A group of archaeologists has said the tomb of Tutankhamun may hold a hidden chamber containing the tomb of Queen Nefertiti. So far, radar scans have failed to confirm such a chamber.
Now, a physicist plans to lead a team conducting another series of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) scans as a last-ditch effort to find Nefertiti's burial site. In this method, high-frequency radio waves bounce off the ground and off of walls, and the reflected signals can reveal hidden treasures, or empty chambers.This is the third time that this method has been used in Tutankhamun's tomb and it is unclear how the new scans will be different than the others.
The study leader, physics professor Francesco Porcelli at the University of Turin in Italy, told Live Science that he cannot say anything more about the upcoming scans without the approval of Egypt's antiquities ministry. The ministry did not return a message left by Live Science. [See Photos of King Tut's Burial and Radar Scans]
In 2015, Nicholas Reeves, director of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project, proposed the idea that a hidden chamber inside King Tut's tomb contained the tomb of Queen Nefertiti. Ground-penetrating radar scans carried out by radar technologist Hirokatsu Watanabe supposedly showed evidence of two hidden chambers. Reeves published a paper presenting his theory in 2015. He did not return a request for comment from Live Science.
Then, in May 2016, a National Geographic team conducted another set of ground-penetrating radar scans.Those scans showed no hidden chambers in King Tut's tomb. However, the National Geographic Society has barred members of that team from talking publicly about their research, said Dean Goodman, one of the leaders of the National Geographic team.
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