Free Republic

Could the small tomb, designated KV63, hold a royal mummy, perhaps that of Tutankhamen's widow or even his mother? ...Otto Schaden, the man who found them, leads the American team. He believes they may have located the mummy of Tutankhamen's widow, Ankhesenamen, after traces of her name were found on the seal of one urn. The secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, thinks the final coffins may contain the remains of the pharaoh's mother, whose identity is unknown, and not the wife of Tutankhamen, the boy king who died at age 18.

The Amarna Royal Tombs Project's GPR (ground-penetrating radar) survey of the Valley of the Kings, undertaken in August 2000 by Hirokatsu Watanabe, was an experimental exercise carried out with the intention that it would be tested in due course by supplementary survey and actual excavation. Since ARTP was denied the opportunity of seeing through that vital second stage, the initial results, though promising, remained unproven. We could responsibly do little beyond keep the data on file, with a view to their eventual publication as an intriguing though sadly speculative annexe to ARTP's final report. In 2005, however, this impasse was...