King Tut's Neighbors: Major Egyptian Discovery

[Sampiro]

I apologize if this is already posted about. I couldn’t “Unearth” it with the search I did.

Archaeologists have just discovered the first intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings since King Tut’s. An amazing thing is that its entrance was located 16 feet from Tut’s tomb. I FREAKING KNEW THEY SHOULD HAVE LOOKED THERE!

Cite (one of several)

It’s nowhere near as elaborate as Tut’s (the sarcophagae/masks were painted wood rather than gold plated) but they predate Tut. As of this writing much is still undetermined, save that Egyptian authorities currently expect no foul play.

[Otto]

And somewhere in the Great Beyond, the spirir of King Tut is saying, “Finally! Will you please tell those jerks to give me back my lawn mower already!”

[Kythereia]

Oh, sweet.

Have they identified whose it is, yet?

[Zabali_Clawbane]

Not a new tomb discovery, but there is a group of scientists who are thinking Nefertiti’s mummy has been under the noses of Egyptologists for some time. I’m unsure what to think of the idea, but the evidence that I saw was decently persuasive, and left the possibility open in my mind. (Though I didn’t much like the dramatic approach TDC tookwith it’s program about it.) Thanks for the link Sampiro, I like to read about this kind of thing.

[Kythereia]

Zabali, I’ve got the book in your link sitting on my desk. It’s a good read, isn’t it?

[Zabali_Clawbane]

I haven’t got my hands on the book to read in it’s entirety yet, but I’ve read any article that I can find about it, and an excerpt of the book. It’s on my wish list. sigh

[cckerberos]

My grandfather is an Egyptologist who happened to be in Egypt at another dig site when the discovery was made. He was allowed to enter the new tomb and then sent out this e-mail, which I thought that some of you might find to be of interest.

I had totally forgotten, but Otto hadn’t, that around 1977 we had partially funded one if his early shoestring budget digs. He really went to bat for me with the inspectors to see it. They wouldn’t let Rita Freed in two days earlier.

I left our dig at the 1900 break and took a taxi to the Valley of the Kings. They now have a second inspector assinged at KV 63 and are even paranoid about people taking pictures of the surface. With impeccable timing I arrived just after the senior inspector had gone off for tea. Meanwhile I was embraced by Nubi whose wife is expecting their sixth child. I was also greetrd warmly by Ted Brock and Earl and Lorelei. which seemed to impress the attending inspector. We had a nice chat and in due time the other inspector returned and I got the OK.

To enter the tomb you must first go down a flight of about 18 wooden stairs with no railing and then climb down an almost vertical ladder for about 18 feet. There was still a lot of rubble and pieces of reed to go to the entry passage about 10 feet long. They hope to find some mortuary seals in the rubble which will give a name. So far there are none. There is a single somewhat irregular squarish chamber beyond. The entry is on the left side with most of the room to the right.One can also see straight ahead at least seven coffins.Five or maybe more were originally stacked like wood upon each other parallel to the front wall. The termite tunnel can be follwed from the surface through the limestone some thirty feet down into the chamber. Because of their eating the wood, the pile of sarcophagi has imploded.

One coffin is open partly and you can see where robbers ripped open the mummy which is covered with bitumen. Another has its lid partly open 2-3 inches and undisturbed wrapping can be seen. Two appear to be in good condition and are on top vertical to the others. One may be a child.

All are heavily coated with bitumen so no names can be seen at this time. To the right are about 24 big pots about 30 inches high. One is broken and black material is seen but who knows what it could be. Similar 18 dynasty pots were found in Saqqara that were filled with flour.All are sealed that I could see. I could not walk around inside to explore.There is no decoration and no visible markings on the pots.

The plan is to move everything into KV12 which is being converted into a storeroom/laboratory. It is bigger, will have good lighting and easier access.This will probably happen in 2-3 weeks. After that the shaft will be buried forever. Before they move everything out Otto would like to give the Egyptologists working in the area a chance to see eveything in situ. He is negotiaiting with the SCA. I think it would be a very nice thing to do.