News

New clues to the burial of a legendary ancient Egyptian queen near Tutankhamun’s tomb

Recently, the famous Egyptologist and museum curator of the British Museum has claimed that he has obtained new evidence of the burial place of Nefertiti, the legendary queen of ancient Egypt. According to this researcher, these evidences are hidden in the wall paintings and hieroglyphs of the royal tomb.

Quoted from ScienceAlert scientific news base, Nicholas Reeves It has been believed for years that the paintings on the wall of Tutankhamun’s tomb do not represent the pharaoh himself; Rather, according to his opinion, the lines of the corner of the mouth in these paintings have also been seen in most of the surviving motifs of Nefertiti. Therefore, Reeves speculates that the paintings may show him burying his stepmother Nefertiti rather than being burial scenes of the young pharaoh.

Nefertiti’s mummy was never found, making it one of the most mysterious mysteries of ancient Egypt. In his new interview, Reeves points to the cartouches (oval hieroglyphs inside which royal names are written) in the murals, which apparently changed the identities of those present at the funeral.

Tutankhamun's mummy

Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, oversees the removal of Tutankhamun’s mummy in Luxor in 2007.

Other researchers believe that these paintings actually depict Tutankhamun’s “returning the mouth” ceremony. This ceremony was performed by his successor and the future pharaoh, that is, Ai. Quoted from National GeographicRestoring the mouth was one of the important burial rituals in ancient Egypt.

In this ceremony, the priests symbolically opened the mouths of the dead with the help of ritual tools and touching the death mask of a mummy. This ceremony was believed to revive the corpse’s senses for the afterlife. For the ancient Egyptians, this revival in the underworld was a moment full of joy.

Reeves has strong reasons for his hypothesis. He points out the physical characteristics of Ai’s painting, such as his fleshy chin and upturned nose, which are more reminiscent of the young Tutankhamun. Reeves told the Guardian that his close examination of the Ai cartouches revealed traces of an earlier name, Tutankhamun.

In the original version of this wall painting, a scene is painted in which Tutankhamun is carrying out the burial ceremony of Nefertiti. According to Reeves, it is entirely possible that Tutankhamun’s tomb was attached to Nefertiti’s original tomb after his unexpected death. If Reeves’ hypothesis is correct, it is highly possible that Nefertiti was buried somewhere near Tutankhamun’s tomb.

The discovery of Nefertiti’s tomb can be called the greatest archaeological discovery in history

Nefertiti was the queen of the 18th dynasty of ancient Egypt and the first wife of the controversial pharaoh Akhenaten. Akhenaten became a controversial figure among the pharaohs of ancient Egypt due to his religious heresy, which required all Egyptians to monotheism, that is, the worship of Aten. Nefertiti used to rule Egypt together with Akhenaten, which according to everyone, was the height of the glory and wealth of ancient Egypt.

Now Reeves argues that Tutankhamun’s tomb is more than fit for a king; It was fit for a queen. In fact, the Egyptian pharaoh’s tomb was unusually small; So that now it is called as the smallest royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Moreover, many of the treasures inside this tomb are of a purely feminine nature.

In addition, the design of the tomb’s floor covering is crooked, and the wall paintings seem to have been hastily put together, and even the appearance of the matter suggests that the sealing of the tomb was done before the colors dried. All this evidence suggests a hasty burial, which makes sense given Tutankhamun’s late teenage death.

Bust of Nefertiti

Bust of Nefertiti. The queen and, according to some Egyptologists, the pharaoh of ancient Egypt, was famous in her time due to her magnificent beauty.

Quoted from Encyclopedia BritannicaTutankhamun, commonly known as King Tut, was the last member of the royal family who reigned at the end of the 18th Dynasty. At the age of 8 or 9, Tutankhamun ascended the throne under Ai’s supervision and married his half-sister, Ankh-Sen-Amun.

It is believed that Shah Tut was always a sick person and finally died at the age of 19. Although it was believed for many years that the young pharaoh died of gangrene infection, in 2010, researchers discovered traces of malaria parasites in his mummified remains. This discovery shows that malaria along with infection may have been the main causes of his death. However, perhaps the unexpected death of the pharaoh has caused the Egyptians who lived 3000 years ago to take creative measures. Shah Tut’s tomb, which was incomplete at the time of his death, was probably used later for the burial of his successor, Ai.

Related articles:

In their 2015 survey of Tutankhamun’s tomb, researchers noticed some special features that indicated the existence of a secret chamber nearby. Reeves put this evidence together and realized that Nefertiti’s body may have been buried in one of these secret chambers. However, not everyone agrees with this hypothesis. Mamdouh Al-Damati, Egypt’s Minister of Antiquities, completely disagrees with Reeves’ opinion. Al-Damati believes that if such a secret chamber exists, it may not contain the body of Nefertiti, but the body of Tutankhamun’s real mother.

In 2018, researchers in the same field surveyed Tutankhamun’s tomb with radar and could find no sign of secret chambers. However, researchers two years later in another radar survey found evidence of a secret enclosure near Tutankhamun’s tomb. However, the only sure way to prove this hypothesis is to destroy the walls of the tomb, which, considering its high value, it is not thought that the Ministry of Antiquities of Egypt will ever agree to do it. Therefore, Reeves’ theory will remain a speculation.

Quoted from InsiderAlthough in most historical texts Nefertiti is remembered as Akhenaten’s first wife; But some Egyptologists believe that after Akhenaten’s death and before Tutankhamun sat on the throne, Nefertiti held the title of pharaoh for a short time with the royal name of “Nefrenfervaten” and with special rituals such as wearing men’s skirts or putting on an artificial beard.

Hatshepsut, the other queen of the 18th dynasty, also performed the role of queen and king alone with similar ceremonies. It is possible that Nefertiti was buried after her death not as a queen, but as a pharaoh. For this reason, Reeves says: “If Nefertiti was buried as a pharaoh, the discovery of her tomb could be the greatest archaeological discovery in history.”


Source link

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button

Adblock Detected

Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker