Is Nefertiti in Tut’s Tomb?

http://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-davidson/is-nefertiti-in-tuts-tomb?intcid=mod-latest

by jeo1234 • 11 years ago

83 21 11 years ago

thearn42• 11 years ago

I don't know if there are any egyptologists on HN, but I'm curious to hear what the state of egyptian archaeology is following the revolution and change of cabinet. In particular, the removal of Zahi Hawass and the issue of safety.

jscheel• 11 years ago

Not an egyptologist, but I did just get back from Egypt recently, so here's some anecdotal evidence. Even during the hottest summer months, there was still activity happening at dig sites. This is usually when all the digs shut down, so I would assume that there would be even more activity during the winter months. There were still occasional restoration projects (even got to spend a few minutes helping one), but they were few and far between. Many had completely halted, probably as a result of Zahi Hawass's ousting and the evaporation of tourist funds. On the other hand, a lot of the expeditions are funded by outside universities, and they bring several jobs to local Egyptians. Because of the perceived security issues, many tourists are staying away from Egypt, which is crippling many people's ability to make a living, and the government's ability to focus on cultural work. Several people I spoke with were once making a good living in the tourism industry, but have since turned to trying to find work with expeditions when they can. Unfortunately, there are a lot more people out of work than there are jobs.

The security situation is interesting. My wife and I were alone for two weeks, and felt perfectly safe. The government knows that tourism and archeology/egyptology bring jobs and dollars, so they focus their police presence on protecting those areas. Sure enough, there are police and military everywhere. However, if you watch them closely, you will see that they are not operating in top condition. I'm not sure if fatigue or inexperience contributes to this, but you can see it. Guards waving people through checkpoints without searching them at all, weapons being left far out of reach, soldiers sleeping on guard, etc. There was one attack on a checkpoint near us while we were there, resulting in the death of two police officers. That didn't seem to have an affect on the rest of the security force. A few days after we left, there was an attack in Luxor directed at tourists. I'm not sure, but my guess is this was a wakeup call for them. Thankfully the attack largely failed, but I'm sure it's caused massive harm to an already hurting economy.

dstyrb• 11 years ago

"Ancient astronaut theorists say yes"

Sometime in season 1 or 6 I think. The one where Akhenaten is an alien. But not the one where the pyramids are microwave lasers.

TeMPOraL3• 11 years ago

Pyramids never were microwave lasers. They're landing sites for Ha'taks, alien starships, coincidentally also pyramid-shaped. Learn your history!

fixermark• 11 years ago

I believe the landers were Cheops-class warships, not the Ha'taks?

Jun8• 11 years ago

And through an error in understanding of the true pronunciation this name was transliterated as hyksos in Egyptian resources and then backformed into the Egyptian name "heqa khaseshet", a typical instance of naming a people after the ships they came in. The sign (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyksos) clearly shows the ship and the rays coming out of it.

SEJeff• 11 years ago

KREE!

thearn42• 11 years ago

Where did the stargate franchise go wrong? It seems to have grown huge, then went up in a puff of smoke almost as quickly. Was it overextended, or ran out of new ideas to work with?

helper• 11 years ago

Why can't they just use ground penetrating radar to determine the existence of other chambers?

knodi123• 11 years ago

That's a good question. I was wondering the same thing myself. Best guess based on preliminary googling is "The principal disadvantage of GPR is that it is severely limited by less-than-ideal environmental conditions. Fine-grained sediments (clays and silts) are often problematic because their high electrical conductivity causes loss of signal strength; rocky or heterogeneous sediments scatter the GPR signal, weakening the useful signal while increasing extraneous noise."

smackfu• 11 years ago

Also, as I understand it, it's not particularly easy to interpret the results beyond "there is something there."

gwern• 11 years ago

They will be.

"Whether there are rooms behind the walls is one question, and should be fairly easy to resolve, with ground-penetrating radar equipment. Indeed, given the evidence Reeves has assembled, it would be madness for the Egyptian antiquities authorities to not at least check. (On Friday, the Luxor Times reported, the Minister of Antiquities said that the ministry would conduct studies to examine the theory.)"

Really the question is why they haven't before. My guess is that it's something prosaic like Tut's tomb having been discovered long before ground-penetrating radar became available and up to this point, no one had any particular reason to get an expensive radar rig and scan through the tomb (archaeological budgets always being limited and higher priority scans being in plentiful supply).

locacorten• 11 years ago

Ground penetrating radar is a technology that doesn't work very well apparently.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/03/underworld-mont...

warmwaffles• 11 years ago

Dig from the other that wont destroy the artifacts?

fhars• 11 years ago

That will most likely destroy the paintings is the new room (if it exists). Digging in from below might work, you want to finance it?

PhantomGremlin• 11 years ago

Americans have long had an interest / obsession with King Tut. Here's a silly little thing Steve Martin did about him circa 1979: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1Hr9VPnMNc

ladelfa• 11 years ago

And, for good measure, Philip Glass's "Akhnaten" (1983)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XENvMGyy4J8

jhund• 11 years ago

Link to the highres images: http://www.highres.factum-arte.org/Tutankhamun/

Click on the up arrow at the bottom edge to choose which wall to view.

mseepgood• 11 years ago

Sorry, but I do not see the door outlines. Not even in the black/white images.

Is Nefertiti in Tut’s Tomb?

Related Stories