Categories: News

Is Queen Nefertiti Buried Inside King Tut’s Tomb?

Queen Nefertiti from the Royal Amarna family portraits

University of Arizona Archaeologist Nicholas Reeves says that a new find in King Tutankhamun‘s (a.k.a. King Tut‘s) tomb may reveal the whereabouts of Queen Nefertiti, reports the BBC.

RELATED: ARCHAEOLOGISTS DISCOVER TOMB OF UNKNOWN QUEEN IN EGYPT

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King Tutankhamun ruled Egypt around 1324 B.C. for a decade before dying at the young age of 19. Due to his brief rule, King Tut was reportedly overlooked until his tomb was discovered on November 4, 1922, by British Archaeologist Howard Carter and his team in the Valley of Kings in Egypt (pictured).

King Tut’s tomb when it was opened in 1923

The discovery would bring King Tut — and his time period — to life as it is only one of two tombs discovered by archaelogists that was actually intact.

Of the 5,000 treasures found in his tomb, his solid gold death mask and coffin were some of the most beautiful finds, showcasing the grandeur of the Egyptians at their apex in history.

Queen Nefertiti, the Great Royal Wife of Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten, is said to have started a religious revolution with her husband in the worshiping of only one god, Aten, the sun disc.

Clearly beloved while she lived and one of the most-famous queens in human history, Queen Nefertiti carried a slew of titles, including Hereditary Princess, Great of Praises, Lady of All Women, Main King’s Wife, His Beloved, and Sweet of Love.

Egyptian renderings of Queen Nefertiti

Nefertiti may have been more than a queen, though. Even during her husband’s reign, it is believed that she was raised to the status of co-regent, which was equal to the status of pharaoh. Others believe that Nefertiti may have eventually become a ruler named Neferneferuaten.

And even though her legacy remains rich even to this day, Queen Nefertiti appears, at some point, to vanish from history: her death is obscured and her tomb — as well as the tombs of her parents and children — have never been found or identified.

And while some archaeologists have speculated that Queen Nefertiti is King Tut’s mother, a scan performed by Spanish artistic and preservation specialists Factum Arte may provide answers to Queen Nefertiti’s whereabouts after thousands of years.

The BBC reports:

The scans were then used to produce a facsimile of the tomb near the site of the original Valley of the Kings in Luxor.

While assessing the scans last February, Dr. Reeves spotted what he believed were marks indicating where two doorways used to be.

“I have been testing the evidence ever since, looking for indications that what I thought I was seeing was, in fact, not there,” Dr Reeves told the BBC.

“But the more I looked, the more information I found that I seemed to be looking at something pretty real.”

Dr. Reeves believes the doors may lead to the secret remains of Queen Nefertiti.

“If I’m wrong, I’m wrong,” he said. “But if I’m right, the prospects are frankly staggering. The world will have become a much more interesting place – at least for Egyptologists.”

RELATED: Egyptian Mummification Procedure May Date Back 1,500 Years Earlier Than Previously Thought

Abena Agyeman-Fisher

Abena Agyeman-Fisher is the Editor-in-Chief of Face2Face Africa. Most recently, she worked for Interactive One as the Senior Editor of NewsOne, she worked for AOL as the News Programming Manager of Black Voices, which later became HuffPo Black Voices, and for the New York Times Company as an Associate Health Editor. Abena, a Spelman College graduate, has been published in Al Jazeera, the Daily Beast, New Jersey’s The Star-Ledger, the Grio, BlackVoices, West Orange Patch, About.com, the Source, Vibe, Vibe Vixen, Jane, and Upscale Magazines. She has interviewed top celebrities, icons, and politicians, such as First Lady Michelle Obama, Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett, Civil Rights activist and diplomat Andrew Young, comedian Bill Cosby, Grammy Award-winning singer Jill Scott, actress and singer Queen Latifah, Olympic Gold winner Cullen Jones, international supermodel Alek Wek, and five-division world champion boxer Floyd Mayweather. Most recently, she served as the First Lady’s press reporter during President Barack Obama’s U.S.-Africa Summit, Young African Leaders Institute event, and the 2013 presidential trip to Senegal, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Tanzania. Abena is also a 2015 International Women's Media Foundation Africa Great Lakes Fellow, where she reported on women candidates and Chinese sweatshops in Tanzania for CNN and Refinery29.

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