Yesterday I attended the Chris Naunton talk ‘Searching for the lost tombs of Egypt’ as part of the
Taunton Literary Festival 2018 in association with the
Taunton Egyptology Society (UK)
Having turned up late I unfortunately missed the intoduction but at least I was there in time to hear intesresting facts about the Amarna period (Akhenaten and Nefertiti) - my favourite subject.
I found out that there is sculpted stone head of Nefertiti found in the same ancient sculptors workshop as that of the famous bust (now in Berlin). The following article from Nile Magazine gives details of this.
https://www.nilemagazine.com.au/2015-september/2015/9/26/the-unfinished-head-of-nefertiti
And fragments of Akhenatens Sarcophagus fragments are reconstructed outside the Egyptian Museum Cairo.
One of the hypothesis Chris put forward is that Smenkhkare married Meritaten -oldest daughter of Akhenaten. There was a slide showing a line drawing from a badly damaged tomb decoration depicting the two figures together-but i didn' catch who recorded it or how the identity of the two figures was confirmed. I hadn’t heard this before. I was aware of a theory that Smenkhkare was Nefertiti-she took the name to rule as Pharoah after Akhenaten died.
He also suggested that Nefertiti was known as Neferneferuaten and that this name was erased from the famous mask of Tutankhamun and replaced with Tutankhamuns title instead. This would support the theory that Tutankamun was buried in haste and grave goods were appropriated. In fact there is a mummy chest band which bears the name Neferneferuaten on the reverse. Also the brown spots (mould) on the walls of the tomb would point to the tomb being shut up before the paint had dried it was suggested.
He was also promoting his book on the missing tombs so I,ll have to try to read it sometime to learn more about these intriguing theories. Sadly there wasnt much about possible locations of the lost tombs. However he did say that there is a currently a project in the west of the Valley of the Kings to find Tutankhamuns wife’s tomb.
On the subject of the theory by Reeves that there is a hidden room behind the wall in Tut's tomb he did say that the first survey found traces of metal in the wall but the second one didn't. The third survey has never been published but the Egyptian Antiqities department are saying the investigation is closed. I got the impression that Chris still thinks there might be another chamber.
The next talk of the Egyptian Society Taunton is By Barry Kemp who has led expeditions to Amarna for many years- that will be an interesting talk -sadly i wont be able to go.
Notes about the talk may be on
Janet Diamond's website - she had attended many lectures about Egypt including those given by the Taunton society.
