Has Queen Nefertiti been found?

Dr Nicholas Reeves, an English archaeologist at the University of Arizona, claims he has discovered a secret doorway leading out of Tutankhamun's burial chamber.

Behind it, he believes, is the grave of Nefertiti, the 'Lady of the Two Lands', who was famed for her beauty and thought to have been the boy-king's mother.

Dr Reeves says he made the discovery after analysing high-resolution scans of the walls of Tutankhamun's grave complex in the Valley of the Kings.

The images were unveiled by Factum Arte, a group which recently created a life-sized copy of Tutankhamun's tomb, intended for tourists to visit.

In a report published by the Amarna Royal Tombs Project, Dr Reeves describes how he uncovered the 'ghosts' of two portals that tomb builders blocked up, one of which is believed to be a storage room.

The other, on the north side of Tutankhamun's tomb, contains 'the undisturbed burial of the tomb's original owner - Nefertiti', Dr Reeves argues.

'The implications are extraordinary,' he writes.

'If digital appearance translates into physical reality, it seems we are now faced not merely with the prospect of a new, Tutankhamun-era store room to the west [but] that of Nefertiti herself, celebrated consort, co-regent, and eventual successor of pharaoh Akhenaten.'

If Dr Reeves' theory is correct, it may resolve a number of oddities about Tutankhamun's burial chamber that have long baffled researchers.

For instance, the treasures found within seem to have been placed there in a rush, and are largely second-hand.

The tomb itself is positioned to the right of the entrance shaft, which is far more typical of Egyptian queens rather than kings.

And Tutankhamun's burial chamber is also the same size as an antechamber, rather than a tomb fit for an Egyptian King.

Combined with the images, Dr Reeves believes the tomb belonged to Nefertiti and the pharaoh's room was simply an afterthought, describing it as a 'corridor-style tomb-within-a-tomb'.

The opening of what is believed to have been Nefertiti's tomb is decorated with religious scenes, perhaps in a ritual to provide protection to the chamber behind it, he said.

'Only one female royal of the late 18th Dynasty is known to have received such honours, and that is Nefertiti', Dr Reeves writes.

Joyce Tyldesley, senior lecturer in Egyptology at the University of Manchester, told The Times that Dr Reeves's hypothesis may prove correct.

'It would not be surprising if the tomb had been intended to have additional rooms, although how far the builders got with these rooms it is difficult to say on current evidence,' she said.

'I would be very surprised if this tomb was built to house the original, or first, burial of Nefertiti.

'It seems to me that it is highly likely that she died during her husband's reign and so would have been buried at Amarna, the city purpose-built by Akhenaten in Middle Egypt.

'But I would have expected her to be buried somewhere in the Western Valley, rather than in the centre of the Valley of the Kings.'

Nefertiti, whose name means 'the beautiful one has come,' was the queen of Egypt and wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten during the 14th century B.C.

She and her husband established the cult of Aten, the sun god, and promoted artwork in Egypt that was strikingly different from its predecessors.

Her titles suggests she was co-regent and possibly a pharaoh after Akhenaten's death.

But despite her remarkable status, her death and burial remains a mystery.

If Dr Reeves is correct, the hidden tomb could be far more magnificent than anything found in Tutankhamun's burial chamber.

'Each piece of evidence on its own is not conclusive, but put it all together and it's hard to avoid my conclusion,' Mr Reeves told The Economist. 

'If I'm wrong I'm wrong, but if I'm right this is potentially the biggest archaeological discovery ever made.'

(dailymail.co.uk)