# Radar reveals two new rooms in Tutankhamun tomb **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 1, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radar-reveals-two-new-rooms-in-tutankhamun-tomb/733167 "2015-10-01T18:29:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radar-reveals-two-new-rooms-in-tutankhamun-tomb/733167/1 "2015-10-01T18:29:54Z")
Exciting news and it came quickly. Back in mid August there were articles published speculating these rooms existed. > **[Is Nefertiti in Tut’s Tomb?](https://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-davidson/is-nefertiti-in-tuts-tomb)** > > According to a new theory, Tutankhamun’s burial chamber was originally a side room in Nefertiti’s tomb, and the queen’s body lies hidden behind a wall. > [@](#): > > But, last week, Nicholas Reeves, an Egyptologist at the University of Arizona, published a paper arguing that the north wall is, in more than one sense, false. Reeves believes that it is a blind, hiding a secret chamber, and that the painting on it was altered in ancient times to tell a lie about whose tomb this really is. There is, he writes, “powerful evidence that the original owner of Tutankhamun’s tomb had in fact been a royal woman.” He thinks that he knows which one: Nefertiti, and he suspects that her body is still lying behind the wall. They got permission to use radar in mid Sept. I’m surprised how quickly this is moving along. Theres so much red tape. So they found the rooms. But will they allow anyone to investigate whats in there? Thats going to require damaging the wall. > **[Search for Nefertiti's burial chamber in Tutankhamun tomb](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34410720)** > > Radar equipment will test a British archaeologist's theory that the Egyptian pharaoh queen Nefertiti could be buried in King Tutankhamun's tomb. > [@](#): > > Nicholas Reeves says radar scanning has revealed two extra rooms hidden in the walls of the tomb. > > Egypt gave Mr Reeves the go-ahead to use the non-invasive radar to test his theory that Nefertiti’s undiscovered remains were hidden in one of them ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radar-reveals-two-new-rooms-in-tutankhamun-tomb/733167/2 "2015-10-01T18:35:19Z")
This is one mystery that may never get solved. But its good to know those rooms are back there. From the New Yorker article > [@](#): > > The mural on the north wall raises another set of questions: if a radar does show a void behind it, what then? “You can’t sacrifice those paintings,” Reeves said. Instead, he believes there needs to be a careful discussion about how to learn as much as possible from a space that has been sealed for more than three thousand years (“Can we get samples of the air?”), while causing the least harm. Perhaps there would be a way to tunnel around. “We shouldn’t thoughtlessly break through, the way Carter did,” he said. ---
**Author:** ![Grrlbrarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrlbrarian/32/4048_2.png) [@Grrlbrarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrlbrarian)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radar-reveals-two-new-rooms-in-tutankhamun-tomb/733167/3 "2015-10-01T18:54:49Z")
I’d think they could potentially break through by some special means - a drill of some kind? - to take air samples and eventually, pass in a camera with light. I’d think that would be the next logical step. Exciting news!!! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radar-reveals-two-new-rooms-in-tutankhamun-tomb/733167/4 "2015-10-01T19:01:00Z")
I wonder if they could tunnel through the side of the pyramid. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radar-reveals-two-new-rooms-in-tutankhamun-tomb/733167/5 "2015-10-01T19:11:46Z")
That’s pretty cool! I think they should just leave it be, let there be something in this world that we don’t drill a hole into. The mystery is better than reality anyway, just like Al Capone’s vault! ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radar-reveals-two-new-rooms-in-tutankhamun-tomb/733167/6 "2015-10-01T19:16:23Z")
If only there was a way to tunnel under the floor. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radar-reveals-two-new-rooms-in-tutankhamun-tomb/733167/7 "2015-10-01T19:28:33Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I wonder if they could tunnel through the side of the pyramid. I believe the tomb is excavated into solid rock below ground level, not inside a pyramid. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radar-reveals-two-new-rooms-in-tutankhamun-tomb/733167/8 "2015-10-01T19:36:04Z")
Is it possible to slice through the wall along the margins of the panels? This might allow a panel to be moved without altering it. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radar-reveals-two-new-rooms-in-tutankhamun-tomb/733167/9 "2015-10-01T20:15:11Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I believe the tomb is excavated into solid rock below ground level, not inside a pyramid. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radar-reveals-two-new-rooms-in-tutankhamun-tomb/733167/10 "2015-10-01T20:39:08Z")
Shit, he’s in trouble with the county property tax assessor now. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radar-reveals-two-new-rooms-in-tutankhamun-tomb/733167/11 "2015-10-01T20:52:13Z")
Back about twelve years ago Egypt allowed a team to investigate a vertical shaft. They built a tracked RV vehicle (shoe box size) that could grip the top and bottom of the shaft. It went quite a distance and encountered a rock. The team negotiated with the authorities and eventually came back with a drill attachment for the RV vehicle. It drilled a very small hole and inserted a camera. Revealing a small space and another rock. They still think that shaft was significant (an air shaft for the king’s spirit to travel to the skies) but couldn’t go any further. History ran a documentary quite a few times. So there is some precedent for drilling and inserting a camera. If they can find a location that doesn’t harm the paintings. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radar-reveals-two-new-rooms-in-tutankhamun-tomb/733167/12 "2015-10-01T21:05:15Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > That’s pretty cool! I think they should just leave it be, let there be something in this world that we don’t drill a hole into. The mystery is better than reality anyway, just like Al Capone’s vault! The possibility of two more rooms stuffed with priceless treasure means we don’t have time to be sentimental. The scientists have to get in there before the tomb robbers do (even if the line between them is kind of blurred, some times). > [@Grrlbrarian](#): > > I’d think they could potentially break through by some special means - a drill of some kind? - to take air samples and eventually, pass in a camera with light. I’d think that would be the next logical step. Exciting news!!! That’s what I’d do next, too. It’s very exciting, but at the moment, I’m not really persuaded that it’s Nefertiti’s tomb in there. (I subscribe to the “Nefertiti was Smenkhare” theory.) Only one way to find out! > [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Is it possible to slice through the wall along the margins of the panels? This might allow a panel to be moved without altering it. I’m sure if they can, they’ll remove the panel intact. In truth, I’m a little surprised they didn’t do that years ago. I’m also kind of surprised that no one’s used radar in there, before, either. I wonder if Zahi Hawass was saving this for his big final project. > [@Colibri](#): > > I believe the tomb is excavated into solid rock below ground level, not inside a pyramid. Yes, but presumably, one could drill down from the top of the cliff, above the area of the proposed new rooms. One could probably even find another cave in the area and tunnel over horizontally toward Tutankhamen’s tomb. That might, conceivably, have been done any time this last hundred years. But taking out the panels and getting them into climate controlled environments would be the best way to go, if possible. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radar-reveals-two-new-rooms-in-tutankhamun-tomb/733167/13 "2015-10-01T21:10:47Z")
One of the reasons Tut’s tomb made it into the twentieth century only moderately pillaged was because it WAS obscure, as opposed to inside a hunk of architecture you can see for miles. That being said, what are the odds that anyone tunneled into those new rooms and robbed them? If I was an archaeologist, this would keep me up at night… ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radar-reveals-two-new-rooms-in-tutankhamun-tomb/733167/14 "2015-10-01T21:21:13Z")
Looking at the Theban Mapping Project (no! don’t go look! you’ll be lost for days!), it looks as if all the area north of the tomb is clear - they could sink access shafts without disturbing anything much. The long entry passage to KV9 is right above it, but nothing else is in the area. This is _cool_. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radar-reveals-two-new-rooms-in-tutankhamun-tomb/733167/15 "2015-10-01T21:22:44Z")
This is really cool, and I definitely hope they can find some non-destructive way to get in there. Of course, this is also obviously the set-up for a cheesy horror movie: \*Nefertiti the queen…Beautiful…Cruel…All men desired her…All men feared her…Now, her eternal slumber has been disturbed…And an ancient evil has been unleashed on the world! **NEFERTITI** **Improbably hot female archaeologist:** “We were fools! We had to know what was in there! God help us, now–God help us all!” Some rooms should never be entered. Coming this summer to a theater near you, in IMAX and RealD 3D! This film has not yet been rated.\* ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radar-reveals-two-new-rooms-in-tutankhamun-tomb/733167/16 "2015-10-01T21:24:06Z")
Going by the OP’s links and what I’ve already seen: _No_ rooms have been discovered. This is _speculation_ only. It is particularly odd given how specific these guys are on what these two “rooms” are: one is the tomb of a particularly famous person and the other is storage. Seems like complete guessing on their part. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radar-reveals-two-new-rooms-in-tutankhamun-tomb/733167/17 "2015-10-01T21:30:14Z")
The second link quotes Nicholas Reeves saying the radar test confirms the rooms are there. Whats in them is open to speculation. Tomb robbers may have emptied any treasure centuries ago. I’d assume an old covered up, entry point will be the first thing they’ll look for. That might give them easier access to these rooms. I hope no one has gotten in there. There might be another treasure collection similar to Tuts. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radar-reveals-two-new-rooms-in-tutankhamun-tomb/733167/18 "2015-10-01T21:37:42Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Tomb robbers may have emptied any treasure centuries ago. I’d assume an old covered up, entry point will be the first thing they’ll look for. That might give them easier access to these rooms. I hope no one has gotten in there. There might be another treasure collection similar to Tuts. Perhaps it is a fake tomb with costume jewelry to hide the real tomb. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radar-reveals-two-new-rooms-in-tutankhamun-tomb/733167/19 "2015-10-01T21:38:02Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > That being said, what are the odds that anyone tunneled into those new rooms and robbed them? I think we probably shouldn’t get our hopes up, too much. We know this wasn’t originally intended to be Tutankhamun’s tomb. His stuff was packed in rather haphazardly. This is probably because he had to be buried in a hurry and his original tomb was unfinished. So the other tombs probably relate to the Original Occupant (and we don’t know who that is.) It’s plausible that Tutankhamun was packed into Nefertiti’s antechamber, but it’s just as likely that some court official was evicted when the King died, suddenly, and they needed a tomb in a hurry. The tomb was disturbed at least twice, shortly after the burial. Plus there are signs that the plaster wasn’t quite dry when it was finished. Also, possibly, a flaw in mummification process might have caused a chemical reaction that sparked a small fire. Really, the poor boy just had an awful time. Even if the other rooms are emptied, I’m hoping we get some more great paintings and writings. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radar-reveals-two-new-rooms-in-tutankhamun-tomb/733167/20 "2015-10-01T21:46:17Z")
Is the radar sensitive enough to discern an Einstein–Rosen bridge portal device? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radar-reveals-two-new-rooms-in-tutankhamun-tomb/733167.md?page=2)