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Egyptian tomb digs up controversy

Saturday, 26 August 2006

USA TODAY
Science Snapshot
By Dan Vergano

Born from Napoleon Bonaparte's disastrous Egyptian military campaign, Egyptology has been marked by exciting discoveries, tedious spadework and controversy at every turn. The latest contretemps revolves around a suspected burial chamber perhaps located just outside the famed entrance to King Tut's tomb.

Earlier this year, the exploration of the first burial chamber uncovered in Egypt's Valley of the Kings attracted a great deal of attention, both from archaeologists and the public. Called KV 63 (short for Valley of the Kings tomb 63), the find was credited to a team led by Egyptologist Otto Schaden of the University of Memphis in Tennessee. Located between the tombs of Tutankhamen (KV 62) and Amenmesse (KV 10), the burial shaft discovered under the remains of worker's huts was the first tomb found in the valley for eight decades.

So, it was a big deal, attracting even a personal visit from Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, which oversees every aspect of that nation's unbelievable wealth of cultural sites, stretching from the Pyramids through Greek and Roman ruins to historic Islamic sites. The discovery team reported the chamber held seven wooden coffins, all containing mummification materials, salts and linens, along with inscriptions mentioning one of King Tut's wives. Final translation of the inscriptions is expected in September. To the public, KV 63 might have been a bit of a bust since no mummies were found inside, but archaeologists were intrigued to learn that tomb builders may have crafted such storage shafts for mummification.

One other oddity of KV 63 was the report by another team, the Amarna Royal Tombs Project (ARTP), led by Nicholas Reeves, that a radar survey done by the team in 2000 had pointed to the shaft's location, finding a hollow in the ground there. Reeves was cleared last year by the Supreme Council of accusations of involvement in antiquities smuggling made in 2002, but he says he still has not been allowed to return to the Valley of the Kings to complete his survey.

In late June, ARTP announced that it had recalibrated its radar survey results from 2000, using that KV 63 image as a guide, and had spotted a similar shaft near that locale, about 50 feet north of it, close to the entrance to King Tut's tomb. KV 64, they tentatively dubbed it. Reeves and company speculated it may be another supply shaft, or it might be a new undiscovered tomb, perhaps that of Queen Nefertiti or other royal women from King Tut's era. Rather than rushing to dig up the tomb, which may be sealed air-tight, a potential scientific gold-mine, Reeves called for slowing down the excavation process.

But response from Hawass, known for insisting on researchers publishing reports in scientific forums, has not been a positive one. In a letter to USA TODAY, he writes, "If what Mr. Reeves says is true, then why didn't he present this report to the Supreme Council of Antiquities." He adds: "Radar can also show anomalies that are not necessarily tomb shafts. It seems to me that Mr. Reeves wants publicity more than conducting his work through a scientific approach. For this reason, I am writing you to state that the information is not true."

Reeves responds that he alerted Hawass and the Supreme Council to KV 63's location in August of 2005, but received no reply. Anticipating a similar response for KV 64, "rightly or wrongly," Reeves says, he decided to release the information about the possible new tomb without any delay. "Yes, I am clearly seeking publicity - but not for my own ends," he says by e-mail. "My sole ambition in this is to see archaeological work in the Valley of the Kings carried out with the care and attention it deserves and so desperately needs."

Undoubtedly, the contested site will attract the attention of more researchers, who may resolve the question of its existence within the year. On Egyptology websites there is some support for a go-slow approach, and big doubts about whether Reeves will be allowed by Egypt to be part of any research in the area. The tombs date from more than 3000 years ago, so perhaps some waiting to open this latest discovery wouldn't be too surprising.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/columnist/vergano/2006-08-13-egyptian-controversy_x.htm

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