Archaeologists and Egyptologists Get Excited About a Possible New Tomb Uncovered in Valley of the Kings
By Jonathan Silverstein
ABC News - Aug. 7, 2006 Just months after archaeologists gleefully clamored over the first tomb to be found in Egypt's Valley of the Kings since 1922, there may be another.
Located just meters from the last tomb KV-63 excavated earlier this year Nicholas Reeves of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project, working under the Valley of the Kings Foundation, claims the group has detected what he believes will turn out to be another tomb, and possibly a royal one at that.
"This new discovery is important on several levels," he said in an e-mail. "First of all, for what it might turn out to be perhaps the burial place of Akhenaten's missing women and not impossibly Nefertiti herself, the most beautiful woman of the ancient world.
"Second, for what, in strategic terms, it might do for archaeology in the Valley of the Kings by its staggering potential to pull Egyptologists up short and ensure that work in the Valley slows down, focuses itself, prepares adequately and doesn't miss a trick either within or outside the tombs when the digging begins."
As with the discovery of KV-63, it's not just what treasures may lie inside, but the overall message another tomb might send that has many in the archeology community excited.
Romance! Adventure! Excitement!
Without a doubt the most significant find in the Valley of the Kings to date was the discovery of King Tutankhamen's final resting place by British Egyptologist Howard Carter on November 4, 1922 designated KV-62 near the entrance to the tomb of Ramses VI.
At the time, many archaeologists had already begun to think of the Valley as dried up, lacking further finds of any real importance, but Carter's find reinvigorated the archaeology community and sparked public interest in the ancient civilization.
When it was first uncovered, it was hoped that KV-63 would do the same. Archaeologists hoped the tomb would be filled with ornate jewels, elaborately decorated sarcophagi and artwork, and maybe even a mummy.
Inside KV-63, scientists found no gems or mummies, only embalming and burial supplies and a number of coffins.
The archaeologists were thrilled, but the public, which is often the driving force behind expensive, long and sometimes unfruitful digs, are typically unimpressed when the discoveries are more scientific than shiny.
Still, Reeves said that whenever anything is found in the Valley, it holds the potential to be a thrilling discovery that touches us all.
"If there is one subject with almost universal romantic appeal, it is Egyptology; within Egyptology it's the Valley of the Kings; and within the Valley of the Kings it's the lost tomb of Nefertiti," wrote Reeves. "If romance doesn't do it for you, then imagine that KV-64 proves not only to be a tomb, and Nefertiti's at that, but a tomb that is hermetically sealed like Tutankhamen's before Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter clumsily smashed their way in.
"The excavator would have before him a unique time capsule, a veritable day-in-the-life-of-ancient-Egypt containing not only burial equipment and a mummy but more fugitive data, too air samples, smells, pollen, insects, microbes, dust; an entire ancient environment. Imagine capturing that, analyzing it. What could it tell us? What could 21st century science do with such data? I'll wager a lot."
Preserving the Past for the Future
Reeves said the team first discovered what he believes is a tomb back in 2000 when taking electronic surveys of the area using high-tech radar equipment.
At the time, they noticed two "anomalies," one which turned out to be KV-63 and another which has the same characteristics as KV-63, but which has yet to be uncovered.
Though there are no plans to begin digging as of yet, Reeves hopes that alerting the public to the possible existence of another tomb will ease pressure on Egyptologists working in the area to speed up their laborious work.
"Faced with evidence for a second intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings, those who understand the nature of the archaeological game in Egypt will feel not excitement but an overwhelming anxiety, for there will be inevitable pressure for quick results. This pressure must be resisted: Speed equates to loss, and it falls to the responsibility of every one of us to ensure that Egypt and Egyptology are not denied the further, extraordinary opportunity they are now presented with.
"KV-64 must be the platform from which to insist that any and all future investigations in the Valley of the Kings are approached with immense caution and carried out methodically to a larger plan by well-funded, professional archaeologists sensitive to all the site's possibilities and needs. The recovery of every ounce of the Valley's remaining potential must be the aim nothing less will do.
"If Egyptology cannot meet these basic obligations, then clearly, no further work should be contemplated; all archaeology is destruction, and it stands to reason that what has been dug foolishly and in haste cannot later be undug sensibly and at leisure. Let us try, this time around, to get it right."
One word of caution, though, is this line in the account: "At the time, they noticed two 'anomalies', one which turned out to be KV-63 and another which has the same characteristics as KV-63, but which has yet to be uncovered."
That may imply that KV-64 is as small as KV-63, in which case it may be as unimpressive as KV-63.
Note also this line: "Reeves said the team first discovered what he believes is a tomb back in 2000 when taking electronic surveys of the area using high-tech radar equipment."
When I heard Nicholas Reeves on the television several years ago, perhaps as long ago as 2000, he sounded like he was secretly semi-sure that he would very soon be unearthing a new tomb in the Valley of the Kings, that might well solve all the unresolved mysteries of Amarna. How did he know he would soon be finding a new tomb, and how did he know it would be the Amarna period? He sounded so smug about it that one had the impression that he thought he had already found very strong evidence of it. That's been a long time ago now. He must have been figuring that both KV-63 and KV-64 will be related to King Tut, because they are both so very close to Tut's tomb, I am guessing. With KV-63 being the Amarna period, Nicholas Reeves now is probably virtually sure that KV-64 will be Amarna, too. He seems concerned that the meager finds in KV-63 may hinder raising funds to do a fine job in discovering and investigating KV-64.
What I am worried about is that KV-64 may be so small that Egyptologists have failed to get very excited about it yet. If K-64 is very small, it is not likely to be the gold mine Nicholas Reeves is dreaming of.
And then there's also the fact that many of us Amarna buffs do not like Nicholas Reeves' views of Amarna. Of course that would not preclude Nicholas Reeves from making a spectacular discovery about Amarna in the Valley of the Kings.
At any rate, we'll all be truly thrilled if it turns out to be the real deal. My own fear, though, is that it will turn out to be a re-hash of the disappointing KV63.
But hope springs eternal. If we're going to dream big, it would be nice to find the mummies of both Akhenaten and Nefertiti, along with a book-length papyrus explaining exactly what they were up to at all times. Well, we can dream, can't we?
Myra, thanks again for the heads up on this exciting stuff.
Jim Stinehart
Thanks Jim. I hope they find something exciting too.
Zahi Hawass quote:
"I believe that we've only found about 30 percent of Egyptian monuments, that 70 percent of them still lie buried underneath the ground," Hawass says. "You never know what the sand will hide in the way of secrets." source
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