Has Nefertiti's tomb finally been found?
August 12, 2015 7:02 PM Subscribe
"The implications are extraordinary, for, if digital appearance translates into physical reality, it seems we are now faced not merely with the prospect of a new, Tutankhamun-era storeroom to the west; to the north (there) appears to be signaled a continuation of tomb KV 62 (Tutankhamun's tomb), and within these uncharted depths an earlier royal interment -- that of Nefertiti herself."
Text of the source article.
Text of the source article.
Thorzdad:
Some of the same imagery here:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-33868103
edit: mebbe not, sorry
posted by slater at 7:15 PM on August 12, 2015
Some of the same imagery here:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-33868103
edit: mebbe not, sorry
posted by slater at 7:15 PM on August 12, 2015
It's some tricky interface that allows for extreme zooming, you can see the relevant section showing the putative door jamb at the end of the source article.
posted by 445supermag at 7:20 PM on August 12, 2015
posted by 445supermag at 7:20 PM on August 12, 2015
Interesting...
Seriously. He makes some really good points. The north wall of the burial chamber doesn't match the other three -- it's clearly older. The tomb design itself *does* much more closely match 18th dynasty designs if you have that second chamber off the west wall, and the plaster lines he's asserting do line up will with the first chamber's portal.
I'm not saying he's right, but it's certainly work looking at. Quick pass with various scanners would tell us if that wall is plaster or stone.
And the thought that we may have *truly* undisturbed chambers since internment? That opens up a whole bunch of questions. Like -- do we open them? Or do we try to just observe remotely and not screw up the context?
posted by eriko at 7:56 PM on August 12, 2015 [5 favorites]
Seriously. He makes some really good points. The north wall of the burial chamber doesn't match the other three -- it's clearly older. The tomb design itself *does* much more closely match 18th dynasty designs if you have that second chamber off the west wall, and the plaster lines he's asserting do line up will with the first chamber's portal.
I'm not saying he's right, but it's certainly work looking at. Quick pass with various scanners would tell us if that wall is plaster or stone.
And the thought that we may have *truly* undisturbed chambers since internment? That opens up a whole bunch of questions. Like -- do we open them? Or do we try to just observe remotely and not screw up the context?
posted by eriko at 7:56 PM on August 12, 2015 [5 favorites]
I believe Steve Cross did some ground penetrating radar stuff around KV62 a few years back and concluded a another tomb was near by but not this close.
Some agree this tomb was intended for Aye and not Tut. It could be these tombs ajoin but do not connect. A crude false door is my first thought but a crude false door would have been evident and noted years ago.
posted by clavdivs at 8:16 PM on August 12, 2015
Some agree this tomb was intended for Aye and not Tut. It could be these tombs ajoin but do not connect. A crude false door is my first thought but a crude false door would have been evident and noted years ago.
posted by clavdivs at 8:16 PM on August 12, 2015
had a secret room of stone-a...
posted by clavdivs at 8:17 PM on August 12, 2015 [11 favorites]
posted by clavdivs at 8:17 PM on August 12, 2015 [11 favorites]
Duh, they should have put bombs next to any wall cracks as soon as they entered. That's like basic dungeon exploration right there.
posted by anazgnos at 8:22 PM on August 12, 2015 [34 favorites]
posted by anazgnos at 8:22 PM on August 12, 2015 [34 favorites]
Holy shit open it open it!
posted by sexyrobot at 8:58 PM on August 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by sexyrobot at 8:58 PM on August 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
I may be too cynical but don't they kind of have to open it up now? With this announcement, aren't they risking someone breaking in looking for it, filled with gold and priceless artifacts? Or is the overall site security far too high?
posted by fatbird at 9:11 PM on August 12, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by fatbird at 9:11 PM on August 12, 2015 [3 favorites]
Several years ago a small, blocked passage in the Great Pyramid was breached by drilling a hole and inserting a fiber optic light/video cable to see what was on the other side. The results were rather anticlimactic but they DID get to see what was on the other side without making a huge excavation out of it. I wonder if this idea has any merit in this situation?
posted by TDavis at 9:42 PM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by TDavis at 9:42 PM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Seems like a good time to post this photo from 1922 that gives me goosebumps every time I see it: The unbroken seal on Tutankhamun’s tomb.
posted by Harald74 at 11:55 PM on August 12, 2015 [32 favorites]
posted by Harald74 at 11:55 PM on August 12, 2015 [32 favorites]
The tomb entrance bears a warning to those who would look upon the Queen's riches: Adobe Flash Player 9/10 or higher needed.
posted by condour75 at 3:56 AM on August 13, 2015 [30 favorites]
posted by condour75 at 3:56 AM on August 13, 2015 [30 favorites]
Several years ago a small, blocked passage in the Great Pyramid was breached by drilling a hole and inserting a fiber optic light/video cable to see what was on the other side. The results were rather anticlimactic
I'm pretty sure I watched this on TV. For about an hour they were all like, stay tuned for NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN FOOTAGE of the NEWLY DISCOVERED CHAMBER! Who knows what AMAZING ARTIFACTS may be REVEALED!!!! And then when it was an empty room they were like, Well, this is an important discovery anyway―for science.
posted by Dr. Send at 5:32 AM on August 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm pretty sure I watched this on TV. For about an hour they were all like, stay tuned for NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN FOOTAGE of the NEWLY DISCOVERED CHAMBER! Who knows what AMAZING ARTIFACTS may be REVEALED!!!! And then when it was an empty room they were like, Well, this is an important discovery anyway―for science.
posted by Dr. Send at 5:32 AM on August 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
I don't doubt that there'll be a cadence of exploration - which may already have started - of scanning, then keyhole archaeology, then (perhaps) more sensors and sampling, then the full pith-helmet. What you do next depends on what you find at each stage.
And what you think the chances are of ISIS dropping by later with a bulldozer and high explosives.
posted by Devonian at 5:46 AM on August 13, 2015
And what you think the chances are of ISIS dropping by later with a bulldozer and high explosives.
posted by Devonian at 5:46 AM on August 13, 2015
Surely we are better people now than we were in 1922 and will not disturb this grave, right?
posted by 256 at 5:53 AM on August 13, 2015
posted by 256 at 5:53 AM on August 13, 2015
Surely we are better people now than we were in 1922 and will not disturb this grave, right?
I laughed for real.
posted by mhoye at 6:32 AM on August 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
I laughed for real.
posted by mhoye at 6:32 AM on August 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
What does this have to do with being "better people"?
It's a 3,000 year old tomb. Anyone who could possibly have any care or connection died millennia ago. If we can open it without destroying it, we should, because it will help us learn about the past.
posted by Sangermaine at 6:35 AM on August 13, 2015 [19 favorites]
It's a 3,000 year old tomb. Anyone who could possibly have any care or connection died millennia ago. If we can open it without destroying it, we should, because it will help us learn about the past.
posted by Sangermaine at 6:35 AM on August 13, 2015 [19 favorites]
Yeah the only reason I can think of not to open it is because doing so will release the alien virus that Nefertiti brought with her when she descended from Planet X, destroying all life on earth.
posted by dis_integration at 6:49 AM on August 13, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by dis_integration at 6:49 AM on August 13, 2015 [4 favorites]
It's like we didn't learn anything from The Mummy, or even from The Mummy Returns. BEWARE THE CURSE OF SHITTY CGI THE ROCK.
posted by Etrigan at 6:49 AM on August 13, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Etrigan at 6:49 AM on August 13, 2015 [4 favorites]
The only reason I can see for holding off on opening it is to wait until archaeological technology has improved so that future people can learn more from opening the tomb. Is that thing air tight? Might be very interesting to look at that air - CO2 levels to confirm theories, maybe one day people could do a radiocarbon dating on air. How about airborne pollen? What future tech that we can't imagine right now could come in decades / centuries to come, which would illuminate so much of the past, if only we left it undisturbed.
I have no doubt that the tomb will be cracked open somehow post haste, unfortunately.
posted by YAMWAK at 6:55 AM on August 13, 2015
I have no doubt that the tomb will be cracked open somehow post haste, unfortunately.
posted by YAMWAK at 6:55 AM on August 13, 2015
I've found something more annoying than Youtube video slideshows. CNN video slideshows with the text of what I'm trying to find out laid over the top.
posted by pashdown at 7:03 AM on August 13, 2015
posted by pashdown at 7:03 AM on August 13, 2015
Or is the overall site security far too high?
Right now? The King's Valley is very well watched. If there are new rooms there, it's safe.
And this has happened before. KV5 was though to be a small, unremarkable tomb with a few rooms until Kent Weeks, as part of the Theban Mapping Project, decided to actually map it in 1995.
Well, twenty years later, they're up to over 120 rooms and corridors and they're still not done. But KV5 was cleaned out in antiquity and flooded repeatedly. KV62, if this is true, may have a burial that's truly undisturbed.
However, Egypt is not a stable country, and that's something that's a factor. Worse, it's a unstable country with risk of an iconoclastic religion taking over with a history of destroying anything that might be construed as being seen as a religious icon to a god that isn't theirs, and that's currently weighing on a lot of minds in the sense of "when in doubt, document NOW if there's any risk that some asshole is going to come and destroy it."
Right now, anybody in the middle east is in full on "get it recorded and get it distributed." We're not at the "and get the artifacts out of there" stage yet, there's still too much imperialism left in the world, that would be seen as just another attempt to steal another country's history (and, given the record, I don't blame them) but man, if there is some there, a big part of me want that documented there in case Egypt falls to an iconoclastic islamic sect who decides this pharaoh shit is an affront to god and starts blowing up tombs -- and, unfortunately, what's running around in the middle east right now is exactly that.
posted by eriko at 7:44 AM on August 13, 2015 [6 favorites]
Right now? The King's Valley is very well watched. If there are new rooms there, it's safe.
And this has happened before. KV5 was though to be a small, unremarkable tomb with a few rooms until Kent Weeks, as part of the Theban Mapping Project, decided to actually map it in 1995.
Well, twenty years later, they're up to over 120 rooms and corridors and they're still not done. But KV5 was cleaned out in antiquity and flooded repeatedly. KV62, if this is true, may have a burial that's truly undisturbed.
However, Egypt is not a stable country, and that's something that's a factor. Worse, it's a unstable country with risk of an iconoclastic religion taking over with a history of destroying anything that might be construed as being seen as a religious icon to a god that isn't theirs, and that's currently weighing on a lot of minds in the sense of "when in doubt, document NOW if there's any risk that some asshole is going to come and destroy it."
Right now, anybody in the middle east is in full on "get it recorded and get it distributed." We're not at the "and get the artifacts out of there" stage yet, there's still too much imperialism left in the world, that would be seen as just another attempt to steal another country's history (and, given the record, I don't blame them) but man, if there is some there, a big part of me want that documented there in case Egypt falls to an iconoclastic islamic sect who decides this pharaoh shit is an affront to god and starts blowing up tombs -- and, unfortunately, what's running around in the middle east right now is exactly that.
posted by eriko at 7:44 AM on August 13, 2015 [6 favorites]
Worse, it's a unstable country with risk of an iconoclastic religion taking over with a history of destroying anything that might be construed as being seen as a religious icon to a god that isn't theirs
That's a bit strong. The Muslim Brotherhood may not be a bunch of Unitarians, but it's not like they're the Taliban, either.
And if you mean ISIS(L)? Their odds of any sort of success in Egypt are between slim and none. The Egyptian army is not someone with whom you particularly want to screw.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:07 AM on August 13, 2015
That's a bit strong. The Muslim Brotherhood may not be a bunch of Unitarians, but it's not like they're the Taliban, either.
And if you mean ISIS(L)? Their odds of any sort of success in Egypt are between slim and none. The Egyptian army is not someone with whom you particularly want to screw.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:07 AM on August 13, 2015
it's not like they're the Taliban, either.
Things can change fast. Who predicted ISIS(L)? And in Libya? And there's this guy....
Just saying.
(Have they determined once and for all if the Nefertiti bust is real or fake? I've not been keeping up.)
posted by IndigoJones at 9:28 AM on August 13, 2015
Things can change fast. Who predicted ISIS(L)? And in Libya? And there's this guy....
Just saying.
(Have they determined once and for all if the Nefertiti bust is real or fake? I've not been keeping up.)
posted by IndigoJones at 9:28 AM on August 13, 2015
Do you think the Taliban would have blown up the Buddha statues if tourism to the site was like a billion dollar economy?
posted by bukvich at 10:24 AM on August 13, 2015
posted by bukvich at 10:24 AM on August 13, 2015
Do you think the Taliban would have blown up the Buddha statues if tourism to the site was like a billion dollar economy?
Yes. They would have.
One, they would not tolerate "those people" coming in.
Two, you do not understand fanatics. It is an offense unto God. It must be destroyed.
Three, because you would put money before holiness, clearly you are an infidel.
posted by eriko at 4:53 PM on August 13, 2015
Yes. They would have.
One, they would not tolerate "those people" coming in.
Two, you do not understand fanatics. It is an offense unto God. It must be destroyed.
Three, because you would put money before holiness, clearly you are an infidel.
posted by eriko at 4:53 PM on August 13, 2015
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posted by Thorzdad at 7:10 PM on August 12, 2015