Emory Report homepage  

April 6, 2009
Egypt team’s finds may uncover tombs

By Priyanka Sinha

New discoveries that may reveal the whereabouts of the tombs of Ramesses VIII, Thutmose II, Queen Nefertiti and other royalty of the 18th Dynasty were officially announced in Atlanta on March 26 by Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the supreme council of antiquities in Egypt.

At a press conference at the Atlanta Civic Center — where “Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs” is on view through May 17 — Hawass, an honorary member of the Carlos Museum’s advisory board, announced the new finds in the Valley of the Kings by an all-Egyptian team.

This first official announcement highlights the status of three key excavations in Egypt focusing on areas that are thought to hold the tombs of long-sought Egyptian royalty.

Hawass’ team discovered a man-made drainage channel, found in the northern side of the central valley that probably helped prevent the flooding of the royal tombs. The central valley, of great interest to the world, may hold the secrets to the whereabouts of Queen Nefertiti — possibly reburied in the Valley of the Kings, in the vicinity of the Amarna Period tombs, after the city built by Akhnaten was abandoned.

The third region of excavation is in the relatively unexplored Western Valley, the location of the tombs of Amenhotep III and Ay, where other tombs of the 18th Dynasty might yet await discovery.