Searching for hidden chambers adjacent to Tutankhamun’s tomb

作者：Lorenzo Bonelli

The original full article by Luigi Sambuelli, Cesare Comina, Gianluca Catanzariti, Filippo Barsuglia, Gianfranco Morelli, Francesco Porcelli was published on the March–April 2019 issue of Elsevier:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1296207418308124

The tomb of the young pharaoh Tutankhamun is the most famous of all the royal tombs within the Valley of the Kings (VOK) in Luxor, Egypt. This tomb was discovered, with an almost intact funerary treasure by Howard Carter in 1922.

The existence of毗邻图坦卡蒙墓的隐藏室和走廊(代号KV62)一直争论不休。2015年,我t was suggested these chambers may host the yet undiscovered burial of Nefertiti. To test this hypothesis, two Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) surveys conducted in 2015 and 2016 from inside KV62 were carried out but gave contradictory results. To solve these uncertainties and obtain a more confident and conclusive response, a third GPR survey was conducted in 2018 using IDS GeoRadar technology.

“这项工作既是激动人心，又是一个挑战。刺激是显而易见的 - 只有3300年后，感觉就像是在最著名的法老的黄金墓葬上监视。实际上，我们21世纪的最先进的，多通道和多频GPR仪器可以从钱伯斯的墙壁上进行前所未有的扫描，从而解决结果和清晰度，”说GIANLUCA CATANZARITI，3DGEOOIMANGE的GPR专家。

The discovery of the century

该图像代表了框架位置的草图以及沿西侧和北墙的HF扫描所覆盖的区域。

GPR is commonly and successfully used in archaeological and forensic applications. Given the expected physical contrast between the bedrock in which the tomb is carved and the supposed sealed doorways as well as the possible presence of a wooden lintel above the doors,GPR is the most effective method to establish the presence of hidden chambers毗邻KV62。

The first GPR survey indicated the presence of two distinct regions or cavities of significant empty space beyond the decorated north and west walls of the burial chamber. This finding was called ‘the discovery of the century’.

The Ministry of State of Antiquities (MoA) in Egypt commissioned a second GPR survey to reconfirm the results of the first KV62 GPR survey. This second survey was carried out by a National Geographic team using medium/high GPR antennae to scan into the walls of the tomb. The second KV62 GPR scan, however, could not confirm the initial findings. Therefore, the conclusions of the second KV62 GPR survey were inconsistent with those of the first GPR survey.

事实证明，前两个KV62雷达扫描事实证明，这是一个很大的迹象表明，任务的复杂性在某种程度上被低估了。鉴于此，MOA要求对图坦卡蒙墓的第三次全面的地球物理调查capable of providing conclusive evidence on the existence of hidden chambers和KV62附近的走廊。

To counter potential technical difficulties, the Italian team from the Polytechnic University of Turin, Geostudi Astier, 3D Geoimaging, and the University of Turin carried out the third survey using three GPR systems coveringmultiple frequency bands, from150 MHz to 3 GHz.

Combining high- and low-frequency GPR surveys

Due to the requirement of scanning the walls without damaging their precious decorations, special equipment was designed and executed by the research team to move the antennae at a certain distance from the walls.

“挑战属于特殊的仪器 - 目标配置 - 我们的GPR系统必须平行于垂直室的墙壁平行'滑动'，以扫描它们以外的卷，而这从未尝试过，这是从未尝试过的，”explainedCatanzariti.

High-frequency (HF) surveysallow higher resolution for potential identification of shallow anomalies related to the doorway corners and to the presence of a backfilling structure made by incoherent material, including non-shaped stones blocks. HF scans were planned in order to investigate a stripe, about 1.5-metre-high, along the West and the North walls. All the GPR profiles were acquired with a GPR unit composed by anAladdin 2GHz IDS GeoRadar天线盒和IDS Georadar K2控制单元。

Low-frequency (LF) GPR调查可促进电磁波渗透和较深空隙的潜在鉴定。收购LF扫描发生了IDS GeoRadar RIS TR200shielded antenna operating in transverse electric (TE) mode collecting data along the vertical direction, from bottom to top. The experts acquired intermediate frequency (IF) scans with a dual polarisation multi-channelIDS GeoRadar Stream C系统。

Stream C allowed to simultaneously record, by a single swath, 23 radar profiles in transverse magnetic (TM) mode and 9 radar profiles in TE-mode.

In the end, the collected data obtained during a very large number of horizontal and vertical scans of the relevant KV62 walls summed up to about 2.7 kilometres of radargrams.

寻求寻找隐藏的房间

According to the processed data from HF acquisitions, the Italian research team found no evidence of a vertical plane (orthogonal to the scanned walls) that could be interpreted as the boundary between the rock and a blocking wall. Experts suggests the first KV62 GPR survey was likely misled in its conclusions by ‘ghost signals’,同意第二次GPR调查的结论。

However, probably due to the limited time availability and spatial extension, the second KV62 GPR survey was unable to provide a convincing conclusive answer. With a high level of confidence, the research team concluded the theory concerning the existence of hidden chambers adjacent Tutankhamun’s tomb is not supported by GPR data.