17 Oct
2026
For more than a decade, one of Egyptology's most tantalizing questions has been whether something lies hidden beyond the walls of Tutankhamun's tomb. The question has been asked, answered and reopened several times. It is open again. In September, a team including former Egyptian antiquities minister Mamdouh Eldamaty and British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves published new geophysical findings reporting possible chambers north of the boy king's burial chamber, Smithsonian magazine reported on September 25.
The theory attached to those findings is a big one: that the tomb known as KV62 was originally built for Queen Nefertiti, and that her burial may still be there. It is important to be precise about what that is. It is a hypothesis, supported by some evidence and disputed by other evidence, and it has not been confirmed.
The research was published in the Occasional Papers of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project. Eldamaty is the lead researcher, with Reeves and British structural engineer George Ballard as co-authors, according to Smithsonian. The team relied on geophysical surveys using ground-penetrating radar and microgravimetry, a technique that measures tiny variations in gravity that can indicate empty spaces underground.
The authors place several possible additional chambers roughly 80 to 100 feet north of Tutankhamun's burial chamber. They describe some of the features as "highly speculative," but say they identified two with "reasonably high levels of confidence." They believe these spaces may connect to the known tomb through passageways filled with rubble.
The study also makes an architectural argument. It says the plan of KV62 matches that of an 18th Dynasty queen rather than a king, noting that other royal tombs of the period turn in the opposite direction. The paper describes its findings in ambitious terms, saying they "can reopen matters long thought settled."
The idea dates to 2015, when Reeves argued that KV62 was originally built for Nefertiti and that its outer rooms were later adapted for Tutankhamun. Pointing to wall scans, he wrote that there might be "two hitherto unrecognized doorways" hidden beneath the painted surfaces. His reasoning was that Tutankhamun died young and unexpectedly, leaving the Egyptians unprepared, so they used part of an existing tomb.
The theory resonated because of who Nefertiti was. She was one of the most prominent royal women of ancient Egypt, and some historians argue she may briefly have ruled as pharaoh. Yet the location of her tomb remains unknown. Reeves did not oversell it at the time. "Each piece of evidence on its own is not conclusive, but put it all together and it's hard to avoid my conclusion," he told The Economist in 2015. "If I'm wrong I'm wrong, but if I'm right this is potentially the biggest archaeological discovery ever made."
The history since then is a lesson in how hard it is to see through rock. Later in 2015, Japanese radar specialist Hirokatsu Watanabe scanned the tomb and claimed his results supported possible sealed doorways and voids on the north and west walls, Smithsonian reported in 2018. A National Geographic Society-funded scan in spring 2016 failed to replicate those results.
That prompted Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities to commission three independent teams, from the Polytechnic University of Turin and two private firms, which covered about 1.6 miles with ground-penetrating radar. In 2018, Francesco Porcelli of the Turin team said the work showed "no hidden chambers, no corridors adjacent to Tutankhamun's tomb," and the ministry's report concluded the hypothesis was "not supported by the GPR data." One proposed explanation for the earlier signal was that the painted plaster walls may have produced stray reflections.
The new study does not erase that result, and it is worth noting a key difference. Smithsonian notes that some earlier investigations searched for "a large void immediately behind the wall." The new paper instead proposes chambers tens of feet away, reached by rubble-filled passages. Smithsonian characterizes the evidence since 2015 as "conflicting."
Outside reactions have been interested but cautious. Christopher Gaffney of the University of Bradford told Nature he was "feeling pretty ambivalent," describing the data as fascinating but inconclusive, according to Smithsonian. Geophysicist Peter Styles of Keele University also said he wanted more information.
Ray Johnson, former director of the Epigraphic Survey at the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, called the findings "very tantalizing" and asked, "Who could not be excited?" But he also cautioned that any chambers might not hold Nefertiti's tomb and could be damaged by flooding or groundwater.
That range of reaction is healthy. Geophysical anomalies are just that: places where the signal differs from what is expected. They can be voids, changes in rock type, fractures or sediment. Turning an anomaly into a room requires direct evidence.
The team has proposed a way to get that evidence. It wants to drill a small hole from above and lower cameras through it. Ballard told The Times this is the only way to know what lies beyond the known tomb. Drilling requires approval from Egyptian authorities, and according to Nature, cited by Smithsonian, work could begin as early as November if approved.
Reeves, for his part, told The Times: "The sky's the limit." That optimism should be weighed against the long record of conflicting scans. A narrow borehole and a camera would be a far more direct test than another round of radar, which is exactly why it matters. Whatever the camera shows, the result would move the debate from interpretation toward observation.
The next milestone is a decision by Egyptian authorities on whether to allow drilling. If approved, the first images will answer the most basic question: is there an open space where the surveys suggest, or solid rock and sediment? If there is a chamber, the next questions are whether it is man-made, whether it is connected to KV62 and whether it contains anything at all.
It is entirely possible the result will be disappointing, as it was in 2018. It is also possible it will not. Either outcome would be valuable, because one of archaeology's most debated questions would finally rest on something firmer than signals in the rock. Until then, Nefertiti's resting place remains one of ancient Egypt's great unsolved mysteries, and KV62 remains the most famous place it might be.
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