Searching for hidden chambers adjacent to Tutankhamun’s tomb

Author:洛伦佐·博内利（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.sciendirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/s1296207418308124

年轻的法老王图坦卡蒙（Tutankhamun）的坟墓是埃及卢克斯（Luxor）国王山谷（VOK）内所有皇家墓中最著名的。1922年，霍华德·卡特（Howard Carter）在霍华德·卡特（Howard Carter）上发现了这个坟墓，几乎是完整的葬礼宝藏。

The existence ofhidden chambers and corridors adjacent to Tutankhamun’s tomb(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.

“This work was both a thrill and a challenge at the same time. The thrill is obvious – it felt like spying on the most famous Pharaoh’s golden burial palace, only some 3300 years later. In fact, our 21st-century state-of-the-art, multichannel and multi-frequency GPR instrumentation allowed an unprecedented scan through the chambers’ walls, in terms of resolution and clarity of the results,”saidGianluca Catanzariti, GPR specialist at 3DGeoimaging.

世纪的发现

This image represents a sketch of the frame positions and the area covered by HF scans along the West and North walls.

GPR通常在考古和法医应用中成功使用。鉴于雕刻坟墓的基岩与所谓的密封门之间的预期物理对比，以及门上方可能存在木制lintel，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’.

埃及的古物国（MOA）委托进行了第二项GPR调查，以重新确认第一次KV62 GPR调查的结果。第二次调查是由国家地理团队使用中/高GPR天线进行扫描到坟墓墙壁的国家地理团队进行的。但是，第二次KV62 GPR扫描无法确认初始发现。因此，第二次KV62 GPR调查的结论与第一个GPR调查的结论不一致。

The fact the two previous KV62 radar scans proved inconclusive was a strong indication that the complexity of the task was somehow underestimated. Given this, the MoA called for a third, comprehensive geophysical survey of Tutankhamun’s tomb能够提供有关隐藏室存在的结论性证据and corridors adjacent to KV62.

为了应对潜在的技术困难，来自都灵理工大学的意大利团队，Geostudi Astier，3D Geoimaging和Turein University of The University of The University of Thire第三次调查，使用三个GPR系统进行多频带，，，，from150 MHz to 3 GHz。

结合高频和低频GPR调查

由于需要扫描墙壁而不会破坏其宝贵的装饰，因此研究团队设计和执行了特殊设备，以将天线移动到距墙壁的一定距离。

“The challenge resided in the peculiar instrumentation-target configuration – our GPR system had to 'slide' parallel to the vertical chamber's walls in order to scan the volumes beyond them, and this had never been tried before,”解释了Catanzariti.

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 Georadarantenna box and an IDS GeoRadar K2 control unit.

Low-frequency (LF) GPRsurveys promote electromagnetic wave penetration and the potential identification of deeper voids. Acquisition of LF scans happened with anIDS GeoRadar RIS TR200以横向电动（TE）模式运行的屏蔽天线，从垂直方向收集数据，从底部到顶部收集数据。专家以双极化多渠道获得了中间频率（IF）扫描IDS GeoRadar Stream Csystem.

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.

In the quest for finding hidden chambers

根据HF采集的处理数据，意大利研究团队没有发现垂直平面（与扫描墙正交的）可以解释为可以解释为岩石和封锁壁之间的边界的证据。专家认为，第一次KV62 GPR调查很可能在结论中被“幽灵信号”误导了，，，，agreeing with the conclusions of the second GPR survey.

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.