Crouched by King Tut’s stone sarcophagus, National Geographic technicians Eric Berkenpas and Alan Turchik prepare the radar unit to scan the tomb’s walls.
In Egypt, Debate Rages Over Scans of King Tut's Tomb
Tests for hidden chambers yield conflicting results. Investigation likely to continue.
CAIRO, EgyptNever underestimate the mysterious, unpredictable, and slightly insane power of Egyptology.
This was the lesson of this past weekend’s Second Annual Tutankhamun Grand Egyptian Museum Conference in Cairo, where attendees may have been lulled by a lineup of sessions that included “Tutankhamun’s Embroidery,” “A Constructive Insight of Some Plant Species from Tutankhamun’s Tomb,” and “The Golden Pendant of Tutankhamun: A New Interpretation of the Epithet of Wertethekau.” If only the epithets had stopped with Wertethekau.
On the third and final day of the conference, more than a hundred people watched two former government ministers sit onstage and angrily accuse each other of trying to drill holes into World Heritage Sites without proper permission. Other exchanges were friendlier, if no less passionate. A
