CAIRO: The latest tomb discovered in Luxor's Valley of the Kings did not reveal its expected mummy, but Egyptologists remain bent on cracking the mystery of "KV63".
Flowers and royal necklaces dating back 3000 years were the only objects Egypt's chief archeologist Zahi Hawass saw when he lifted the lid on the last of seven coffins found in the tomb.
"It's superb but there is no room for a mummy," said Otto Schaden, the America archeologist who uncovered the tomb almost by chance in February, only a few feet away from "KV62", the famous sepulchre of Tutankhamun.
The six other coffins contained pottery shards and the Egyptian and US team had to conceal their disappointment after much anticipation that the last coffin might contain a royal mummy.
But they vowed to continue their research and reveal the origin of this tomb, concealed in a cliff of the pharaonic necropolis.
The flamboyant Dr Hawass even risked a theory. "It could be for the mother of King Tut. It's a theory. But I believe King Tut came here to be buried beside her, because maybe it's the tomb of his mother," he said.
Nadia Lukma, a senior archeologist at Cairo Museum added: "No mummy ... but I'm sure we will find very interesting elements underneath, maybe tools."
When Dr Schaden and his team from Memphis University uncovered the tomb under a metre or so of rubble, archeology held its breath.
No tomb had been found in more than 80 years in this arid complex west of the ancient city of Thebes, where three dynasties of sun kings and their relatives were laid in crypts dug into rock.
"Although there is no mummy here, there are strong indications that this tomb is linked to Tut's, with elements relating to the cult of Aten and Amon," Dr Schaden said. Aten was the sun god, considered a creator of the universe in Egyptian mythology, whose worship was the basis of the religion instituted by Akhenaten, thought to be Tut's father.
"I can rule out that this is linked to (Tut's) widow Ankhesenamun," Dr Hawass said. "But why not to his mother, who could be Nefertiti?"
The identity of Tut's mother remains more mysterious than his father's, with some theories identifying her as Nefertiti and others as Kiya, a foreign princess, or even his wet nurse Maya.
Tut, who died at 18, rejected his father's "heretical" monotheistic religion and returned to the traditional worship of many gods.
The archeologists have a collection of pieces of linen, flowers, 28 earthenware urns and other objects to analyse to unlock the secret of KV63.
Dr Schaden said the tomb appeared to have been looted around 1300BC and the caskets were most likely moved from one location to another.
Source: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 03,00.html
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
