Nefertiti's Tomb

Name Using Textual Evidence Nefertiti’s Tomb DIRECTIONS: Read the passage. Answer the questions. Use textual evidence to support your answers. Egypt's Queen Nefertiti has been missing in action for 3,000 years. Nefertiti means "a beautiful woman has come," and she reigned alongside her husband Amenhotep IV for 12 years―and then she vanished. Egyptologists have speculated about what happened to her for years. Some postulate that she became co‐regent under a new name, and others think she may have died. But British archaeologist Nicolas Reeves thinks that he has found her, in a hidden chamber inside King Tut's tomb. King Tutankhamun was a minor king, dying at 17. However, he is probably the best known of Egypt's rulers, because his resting place was found largely intact, and for decades the treasures found there have been on public display. When Reeves and his team entered Tut's rather small and unimpressive tomb, Reeves noticed the simple but vivid hieroglyphics on the tomb's walls. One section depicted what he believed to be a mummy and a pharaoh, and the artwork was similar to how Tut and Nefertiti are depicted in other hieroglyphics. "My feeling is this is a tomb, originally made for a queen, which was adapted for the burial of a queen who had become a pharaoh," says Reeves. "The pharaoh (dressed as a mummy) in question looks to be Nefertiti and the person burying Nefertiti appears to be Tutankhamun." But there is more than just Reeves' feeling backing up this theory. According to high‐resolution images of King Tut's tomb that were published by a Madrid‐based art restoration specialist in 2014, there are cracks in the walls which Reeves thinks could mean that there are two previously undiscovered "ghost" doorways behind the walls. If Reeves is right, then Tut's tomb is part of the entrance to the tomb of Nefertiti, and he plans to use radar and thermal imaging to scan the tomb so that he can tell which walls are real, and which are artificial. Even though the tomb of Nefertiti is a valuable find, both historically and, potentially, materially, it is important that Tut's tomb not be destroyed in the process of uncovering it, so digging will not begin immediately. Rather, archeologists will have to determine the least intrusive and least damaging way of entering Nefertiti's supposed tomb. 1. What is the main idea of the article? What evidence is presented to support the main idea? 2. Why is Tut’s tomb important? How do you know?