Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/655176
ByBrianRohan The Associated Press CAIRO Radar scans of King Tutankhamun's burial chamber have revealed two hidden rooms, a tantalizing discovery that could resolve a mystery as old as the pyr- amids: What was the fate of Egypt's beautiful Queen Nefertiti? At a packed Cairo news conference Thursday to announce the find in King Tut's tomb in Luxor, An- tiquities Minister Mam- douh el-Damaty declined to comment on whether any royal treasure or more mummies might be inside the rooms. But he said the unex- plored chambers could hold some kind of organic or metal objects. Most experts say that while the scans might re- veal another tomb behind the false walls, it's unlikely to be crammed with solid gold and a royal mummy like Nefertiti, whose 3,300-year-old bust on dis- play in Berlin is one of the most famous symbols of ancient Egypt and classical beauty. "Quite often, people have done these sorts of scans, and when actually investi- gated, things have turned out to be nothing like pre- dicted," said Aidan Dod- son, an archaeologist at the University of Bristol in England. "If they are cham- bers, most likely they'd be filled with more funeral ob- jects of Tutankhamun, pos- sibly including some gilded statuettes of gods, or per- haps even the mummy of a young child who prede- ceased Tut." Still, the discovery has ig- nited massive interest, and el-Damaty cast the discov- ery as potentially huge. He said the radar scans of the chamber, taken last year and analyzed in Japan, will be repeated at the end of the month. "It means a rediscov- ery of Tutankhamun ... for Egypt it is a very big discov- ery, it could be the discov- ery of the century," el-Dam- aty said. "It is very impor- tant for Egyptian history and for all the world." The discovery could also renew excitement in Egypt's antiquities and help reinvig- orate its flagging tourism industry, which has been hit hard in recent years by political violence, an insur- gency in the northern Si- nai Peninsula, and persis- tent attacks since the mili- tary's 2013 overthrow of an elected but divisive Islamist president. The contents of the newly found rooms could shine a light on one of ancient Egypt's most turbulent times, and one prominent researcher has theorized that the remains of Nefer- titi could be inside. British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves speculates that Tutankhamun, who died at age 19, may have been rushed into an outer chamber of what was orig- inally Nefertiti's tomb. The queen was one of the wives of Tutankhamun's father, the Pharaoh Akhenaten. El-Damaty said it was too early to tell what the metal and organic matter could be, saying only that he thinks the chambers could contain the tomb of a mem- ber of Tutankhamun's fam- ily, possibly a woman. Luxor, in southern Egypt, served as the Phar- aonic capital and is home to sprawling temples and sev- eral highly decorated an- cient tombs in the Valley of the Kings. The discovery in 1922 of King Tut's nearly intact tomb by Howard Carter yielded unprecedented treasures, including the boy king's sarcophagus and iconic golden burial mask. Reeves reached his the- ory after high-resolution images discovered what he said were straight lines in Tut's tomb. These lines, pre- viously hidden by the color and texture of the stones, indicate the presence of a sealed chamber, he said. The images were broadcast live on national television in September. At the Cairo news confer- ence, el-Damaty showed the results of radar scans that revealed anomalies in the walls of the tomb, indicat- ing a possible hidden door and rooms behind false walls that were covered up and painted over with hi- eroglyphics. Tut's tomb, the most in- tact one ever discovered in Egypt, was packed with well-preserved artifacts when it was discovered, but the fact that it was rel- atively small for the Valley of the Kings is boosting the- ories that there is more to be discovered. For many, Tut embodies ancient Egypt's glory, be- cause his tomb was packed with the glittering wealth of the rich 18th Dynasty, from 1569 to 1315 B.C. Nefertiti was the pri- mary wife of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, who unsuccess- fully tried to switch Egypt to an early form of mono- theism. Akhenaten was succeeded by a pharaoh re- ferred to as Smenkhare, and then Tut, who was proven by genetic testing to have been Akhenaten's son. Many Egyptologists cite strong DNA evidence to ar- gue that Nefertiti's mummy is, in fact, one that already was found more than 100 years ago and is in Cairo's Egyptian Museum. EGYPT Tomb radar: King Tut's burial chamber shows hidden rooms AMRNABIL—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS One of Egypt's famed King Tutankhamun's golden sarcophagus is displayed at his tomb in a glass case at the Valley of the Kings in Luxor. J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Secretary of State John Kerry speaks to reporters at the State Department in Washington on Thursday. By Matthew Lee The Associated Press WASHINGTON The Obama administration on Thurs- day formally concluded the Islamic State group is com- mitting genocide against Christians and other mi- norities in Iraq and Syria, a declaration long sought by Congress and human rights organizations but likely to change little in the conflict against the ex- tremists. The determination, for which Congress had set a Thursday deadline, does not obligate the United States to take additional action against IS militants and does not prejudge any potential prosecution against its members. Officials said the U.S. has already intensified its fight against IS and had ef- fectively recognized the sit- uation as a genocide more than a year ago when it agreed to increase the number of refugees, nota- bly from Syria, that Amer- ica accepts. A day after the State De- partment said the admin- istration would miss the deadline because it needed more evidence, Kerry said Thursday that he had com- pleted his review after all and determined that Christians, Yazidis and Shiite groups are victims of genocide and crimes against humanity by the Islamic State. The House earlier this week unani- mously passed a nonbind- ing resolution condemning IS atrocities as genocide. Kerry outlined a litany of atrocities that he said the militants had commit- ted against people and re- ligious sites, as well as threats to eradicate what it terms apostates and in- fidels. Using the Arabic ac- ronym for the Islamic State group, he said, "Daesh is genocidal by self-procla- mation, by ideology, and by actions — in what it says, what it believes and what it does." However, he added that he was "neither judge nor prosecutor nor jury with respect to the allegations" and said any potential criminal charges must re- sult from an independent international investiga- tion. Kerry said the U.S. would continue to support efforts to collect evidence and document atrocities. While his determina- tion does not carry such le- gal weight, Kerry said he hoped that groups he cited as being victimized would take some comfort in the fact that the "the United States recognizes and con- firms the despicable nature of the crimes committed against them." Lawmakers and others who have advocated for the finding had sharply criticized the State De- partment's initial disclo- sure Wednesday that the deadline would be missed. U.S. officials said Kerry concluded his review just hours after that announce- ment and the criticism had not affected his decision. Kerry determines IS group committing genocide in Iraq, Syria DECLARATION 4,801fans+32 this week Select"Subscribe"tabin lower right corner Complete information for automatic weekly delivery to your email inbox That's it! FREE online subscription to TV Select Magazine Digital edition emailed to you, every Saturday! Just go online to www.ifoldsflip.com/t/5281 (You'll only need to go there one time) • Fully searchable online, zoom in, print out pages and more! • No newspaper online subscription or website access required. • Best of all ... it's ABSOLUTELY FREE! This FREE service made possible by the advertisers in TV Select Magazine Kindly patronize and thank them. Click on their ads online to access their websites! FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 2016 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 5 B