“It is essential to perform more scans using other devices at the Tutankhamun Tomb (KV62) at the Valley of the Kings-Luxor using more technical and scientific methods and radar devices” is one of a number of recommendations reached at the end of the Second International Tutankhamun Conference that was held on May 8th 2016 at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC).
Antiquities Minister Dr. Khaled El-Enany emphasized at the open scientific discussion that came at the end of the conference that no drilling will be done at the tomb’s walls “unless we are 100% certain that there is a cavity behind them”. Egyptology and radar experts participated in the final session. Among them were former Antiquities Ministers Dr. Zahi Hawas and Dr. Mamdouh Eldamaty, the Japanese radar expert Prof. Watanabe, Dr. Yaser El-Shayeb from the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University and a number of Egyptian archaeologists and stakeholders.
In his lecture, former Antiquities Minister Dr. Zahi Hawas said that radar scan is not sufficient alone to make a new archaeological discovery stressing that he is against the British scientist Nicholas Reeves’ hypothesis that Queen Nefertiti’s tomb exists behind that of King Tut’s. Hawas added that a scientific committee consisting of archaeologists, radar experts and remote sensing experts should be formed immediately to supervise the works inside the tomb.
Former Antiquities Minister Dr. Eldamaty also gave a lecture entitled “The Rediscovery of the Tutankhamun Tomb” in which he summed up all the work steps that have been made at the radar scan project at the Golden Pharaoh’s tomb, expressing that the results reached point out that there is a 50% possibility of a cavity behind the Tomb’s walls.
In a related context, Dr. Tarek Tawfik, General Supervisor on the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) Project, added that among the recommendations of this conference came the formation of an Egyptian Archaeological Committee with the assistance of foreign experts aiming at drawing a road map for the transfer process of the Golden Pharaoh’s fragile artifacts that are sensitive to light and motion. Also the Tutankhamun’s Research Center that was established last year will be provided with a web channel to publish all the researches and studies related to the Boy King.
