Scientists Say Egypt is in Denial Over Hidden Rooms in King Tut's Tomb

Atlas Obscura ^ | May 12, 2016 | Erik Shilling

[SunkenCiv]

Scientists said earlier this year that they had found some secret rooms in Tutankhamen's tomb. What could they contain? A popular theory was the tomb of Queen Nefertiti. But other scientists later said that there was good reason to doubt the claims, which were based on scans.

Now, the situation has gotten a little bit uglier. A team of radar technicians performed a second, more detailed set of scans on the tomb earlier this year, and sent their results off to Egypt's ministry of antiquities. But the government now has refused to release their findings, and scientists are beginning to cry foul, according to the Guardian.

What could the government be hiding? Perhaps, the scientists say, the hidden tombs don't exist at all. The first scans have also been called into question, after Hirokatsu Watanabe, the Japanese radar specialist that performed them, refused to release raw data associated with the scans because, he said, no one else could understand it except for him.

"My understanding is that the Egyptians are in a state of denial about this," one unnamed scientist told the Guardian (even science reporting apparently requires anonymous sources sometimes). "They are freaking out, and it has become politically toxic. When you're the in the middle of a situation in which people are being purged because of their position on this, then scientists should back off and let the politics take its course. We have left the realm of science."

The Egyptian government has so far refused to address the issue, but scientists quoted in National Geographic, which organized the second round of radar scans, said flatly that the rooms aren't there.

[ChessExpert]

very good :)

[Caipirabob]

Perhaps they simply want to protect the treasure until they have purged the radical islamicists who will inevitably destroy the treasures out of some historical sense of penis envy.

[Daffynition]

**...Egypt is in Denial ...**

And all this time, I thought de Nile was in Egypt?

I always learn a lot from your threads SC.

[MHGinTN]

Pretty face, but that cone head is a real turnoff ...

[tumblindice]

After `Hair Club for Aliens':

[JimSEA]

As good a theory as any the way things stand.

[Talisker]

Nothing to see, move along...

[ChessExpert]

Thanks for the response.

[Daffynition]

While looking for the transgender bathroom...

[ChessExpert]

I’m at a loss here. This only appears to be a scientific question to me. What am I missing? Can you shed some light on the subject?

[rlmorel]

[Daffynition]

Someone always leaves the TP to unwind, the wrong way. Always.

[Palio di Siena]

They will find Brian Williams when the new rooms are opened.

[rlmorel]

hahahhahahahahaha! I’m keeping that one!

[healy61]

Didn’t Cayce, the sleeping
psychic, predict that rooms would be found at the pyramid?

[Daffynition]

This is what happens when there are no paper towels, in the transgender bathrooms in Wadi Sura.

[x_plus_one]

Islam wants to delete antiquities so delaying the research will keep them safe for now.

[rlmorel]

eeeeewwwww

[SunkenCiv]

The Egyptians only allowed the presentation of two researchers, Reeves (who started this with his fine-tooth-comb look at the hi-res digital scans of the interior walls of the tomb) and Watanabe (I think it was), both of whom are telling the Egyptians what they want to hear. A new, previously unsuspected tomb would help boost tourism, which started off the cliff when Morsi the Islamofascist took power a few years back.

[SunkenCiv]

LOL!