Radar survey of Egypt's Valley of the Kings opens up new possibilities for lost tomb finds
WE know they're there: King Thutmose. Rameses VIII. A handful of queens. Now, archaeologists have a good idea where they are.
WE know they're there: King Thutmose. Rameses VIII. A handful of queens. Now, archaeologists have a good idea where they are.
The hidden tombs - and hopefully their treasures - have been the subject of a ground-penetrating radar search in Egypt's famous Valley of the Kings.
And while they've found a few "contacts", the survey is not yet complete.
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Ground-penetrating radar is where high-frequency radio waves are directed into the earth and their reflections measured and analysed. The signals can paint a picture of hidden structures and cavities - potentially leading archaeologists directly to a lost-tomb's 'front door'.
But it's not all easy going.
Despite rapid advances in the technology, the windswept Valley of the Kings still refuses to give up its secrets easily.
"There are many faults and natural features that can look like walls and tombs," project field director Afifi Ghonim told LiveScience.
But hopes remain high of finding new locations in which to focus excavation efforts.
"The consensus is that there are probably several smaller tombs yet to be found. But there is still the possibility of finding a royal tomb," Ghonim said.
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"The queens of the late Eighteenth Dynasty are missing, as are some pharaohs of the New Kingdom … "It is not impossible for one or more to be intact."
The project is one of the most extensive mapping and exercising efforts inside the Valley of the Kings since Howard Carter discovered the famous boy-king Tutankhamun's tomb there in 1922.
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