Secret chambers in Tutankhamun’s tomb could hide Nefertiti
Egyptologists revealed in 2022 that they had found the mummy and tomb of Nefertiti, the famous queen of the 18th dynasty who was the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten, the father of Tutankhamun, and a controversial figure known for her heretical religious practices. What happened in the meantime?
Over the centuries, archaeologists have identified many mummified remains as candidates for Nefertitibut without any definitive conclusion.
The missing tomb and body of the queen legendarily beautiful They have long been one of Egyptology’s greatest mysteries.
In September 2022, Egyptologists announced “: the tomb and mummy of the mythical queen had been found. The announcement was made by the archaeologist and former Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs of Egypt, Zahi Hawasshimself a somewhat controversial figure.
According to her press release, Nefertiti I was in the Valley of the Kingsin Luxor, in a tomb that contained two female mummies. When Hawass made the initial announcement, it did not reveal which of the mummies, KV21A or KV21Bit was Nefertiti, but she promised that The final news would be released in October of this year.
Four years later, Hawass has not yet confirmed the identity of Nefertiti. After all, what’s going on with the search for Egypt’s missing queen?
How do you lose a queen?
Identifying a real mummy is a delicate task. Almost all the tombs were looted and destroyed in antiquity, so names were removed and bodies moved and damaged over time.
Family trees are complicated and incomplete, with the relationships between various members even more complicated. genetically obscured by the frequency of incestuous marriages.
Near the end of the 18th Egyptian dynasty, many records were destroyed in the chaos and religious upheaval of the Amarna period.
Nefertiti has been especially difficult to locate. Egyptologists are not completely sure who were your parentsand they also cannot confirm which of Akhenaten’s children are hers.
O year of his death is also not known for sure. If she had died before her husband, she would probably be buried in her city of Amarna. Many historians now believe that outlived her husband and ruled alone or as regent of the young Tutankhamun.
In that case, would be buried in the Valley of the Kingsin the necropolis of Gurob next to Faium, in Thebes, or even in his hometown of Akhmim. Many of the most likely tombs are, however, in the Valley of the Kings.
Theban Mapping Project
The entrance to KV21, the tomb where two female mummies were buried, one of which could be Nefertiti
A long list of false Nefertitis
However, there is a small problem, note: it turns out that Zahi Hawass announces a new discovery of Nefertiti quite regularly. And he is not the only prominent Egyptologist to make claims about Nefertiti that have not been proven.
KV35, discovered in 1898, was originally the tomb of Amenhotep II. Later, the Egyptians used it as a mummy hiding place, where they kept ancient members of royalty. like someone who keeps loose elastic bands in a kitchen drawer.
Two of the mummies, the “Older Lady” ea “Younger Lady”were found hidden in a side chamber next to the body of a young prince.
The “Oldest Lady” was cited as a potential Nefertiti until 1976when comparison with a lock of hair from Tutankhamun’s tomb showed that was, in fact, Queen Tiye, mother of Akhenaten.
In 2003, the author Joann Fletcher created a small media storm by announcing that the “Younger Lady” was, in fact, the missing Nefertiti. The announcement even included a special program on the Discovery Channel.
Hawass himself was strongly opposed to the theory and organized a DNA test to disprove it. When the results came back, they showed that the Younger Lady was mother of Tutankhamun, daughter of Queen Tiye I’ll be there for Tuthankhaon, You’ll.
Egyptologists have a reasonable certainty that Nefertiti was not a daughter of royalty. Therefore, the “Younger Lady” must be one of Akhenaten’s secondary sister-wives.
Other media circus around Nefertiti emerged in 2015, when the British archaeologist Nicholas Reevesannounced that King Tut’s tomb was behind a wall and that Nefertiti was probably behind that wall. There was no secret chamber, and the queen is not there.
Then, who is the latest Nefertiti?
As KV21A e B are not recent discoveries. The tomb has been discovered and rediscovered several times since 1817. In fact, Hawass performed DNA analysis on the two women in the same year that he analyzed the remains of KV35. But the remains in KV21 are very damaged. As a result, Hawass and his team were unable to construct complete, definitive profiles.
Based on the limited results, however, it appears that KV21A may have been the mother of the two fetuses buried with Tutankhamun. Tests confirmed that Tut is the father, which means that if KV21A is the mother, is one of his wives.
There are alternative readings of the DNA evidence, but either way, KV21A is probably not Nefertiti. For starters, she appears to have died in her early twenties, which makes her too young.
Therefore, if any of the mummies in KV21 are Nefertiti, it’s KV21Bwhose estimated age, 45 years old, coincides with that of Nefertiti, but the analysis of this mummy could not go further than stating that she fits somewhere in the royal lineage of the 18th dynasty and could be the mother of KV21A.
If these flimsy identifications are correct, this mummy could be Nefertiti. But also could easily be your sister Mutnodjmet or another wife of Akhenaten.
Zahi Hawass said in late 2023 that he planned to announce Nefertiti’s identity within four months. In an interview in December 2024, he stated that he was certain that Nefertiti would be found in 2025. Well, good luck in 2026…
