Queen Nefertiti has always been a subject of controversy among archaeologists and historians alike.
Only a few years ago, Digital Journal reported that art historian Henri Stierlin claimed the famed 3,400-year old bust of the queen was fake, citing multiple reasons including the bust having no left eye. However, the secretary general of of Egypt’s Supreme council of Antiquities denied his claim, even saying, “Stierlin is not a historian. He is delirious.”
The search for answers to Queen Nefertiti’s life and death led archaeologist Nicholas Reeves of the University of Arizona to his latest finding.
Reeves believes that within the high resolution scans of the North and West walls of Tutankhamun’s tomb, he may have discovered two “ghost doors.”
In his paper Reeves says, “Close examination of these surface scans reveals, beneath the plaster, several features in shallow relief,” indicating the concealment of two doors, one which may lead to a storeroom and another might hold Nefertiti’s remains.
In the inscriptions featuring exposed figures on the North wall ( behind which he believes Nefertiti’s remains may be found) Reeves noted, “In the case of the principal participant those images of the pharaoh currently labelled as Tutankhamun (and of the divinities who carry this same royal face) the first and most revealing feature to be observed is an obvious line extending downwards on either side of the mouth. This so-called ornamental groove is regularly encountered as a defining feature of Nefertiti’s later sculptural representations.”
Queen Nefertiti ruled along side Pharaoh Akhenaten from 1353 to 1336 B.C., a period said to have been a time of great cultural advancement and religious revolution. Together they led the kingdom to follow the sun god Aten.
Since its discovery in 1922, King Tutankhamun’s tomb has been shrouded in mystery. While Reeves theory would need several tests and scans for it to be officially validated, it could prove to be one of the most exciting discoveries and offer many more answers.
