Summary

New ground-penetrating radar and microgravity surveys suggest a corridor and possible chambers near Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. The findings revive the possibility that the site contains an earlier royal burial complex, potentially linked to Nefertiti, but direct inspection still requires approval.

New geophysical surveys around Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings have produced evidence that researchers interpret as a possible hidden corridor and a group of chambers beyond the burial chamber. The results revive a long-running proposal that the tomb, known as KV62, may contain an earlier royal burial complex associated with Nefertiti.

The evidence comes from ground-penetrating radar (GPR), a new microgravity survey and comparisons with earlier studies of the tomb and surrounding ground. The researchers’ conclusions were published online on 17 September 2026 in the Occasional Papers of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project.

Contents

New surveys combine radar and gravity data

The team used GPR from inside KV62 to examine the walls. GPR sends radio waves into materials and analyses returning signals to identify changes in subsurface structure. Lead researcher Mamdouh Eldamaty and structural engineer George Ballard say the results indicate a corridor about 2 metres wide leading away from the burial chamber. They interpret it as densely packed with rubble, which could explain why earlier searches looking for a large empty void did not identify it.

Because radar has a limited range when used through the tomb walls, the researchers also conducted a microgravity survey over and around KV62. This method measures small variations in Earth’s gravitational field caused by differences in underground density. The survey included more than 1,200 readings across a 35-square-metre area.

Ballard says the measurements show several low-density structures with right-angled forms, aligned roughly parallel to the north wall of the tomb. A feature labelled “anomaly 7” is especially notable in the team’s interpretation: a mostly low-density zone containing a roughly square, higher-density area. Ballard suggests this could represent a chamber containing objects, while also describing the interpretation as close to the limits of what the survey can detect.

Data from electrical-resistivity tomography collected in 2017 show anomalies in similar locations. That earlier analysis did not associate them with KV62. The new team has re-examined those results alongside the radar and microgravity data.

Why the tomb’s layout matters

KV62 was built in the fourteenth century BC and discovered in 1922. It is unusually small for a royal burial, and its north wall contains lines and cracks that, together with changes in the wall paintings, have prompted suggestions that the visible chamber may have been modified from a larger tomb.

In 2015, Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves proposed that the tomb originally extended farther behind the north wall. Under that interpretation, the deeper sections could have been sealed when Tutankhamun died unexpectedly at a young age and his burial was placed in a modified part of an older royal tomb.

The theory connects KV62 with Nefertiti, who many Egyptologists think briefly ruled as a Pharaoh before Tutankhamun. The new survey results do not identify the occupants of the possible spaces, but the researchers argue that the apparent alignment and combination of geophysical signals support the idea of a pre-existing complex.

Earlier geophysical investigations produced mixed results. Some teams reported indications of chambers, while others found no convincing evidence. The latest findings therefore strengthen the case for further investigation rather than resolving the archaeological debate.

Inspection depends on Egyptian approval

The suspected spaces appear not to connect to another known entrance. If they exist, the researchers say they may not have been entered since antiquity. A further possible room lies immediately west of the burial chamber, although the signal there is complicated by the gravitational effect of another nearby tomb.

The next step would require approval from Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities. If permission is granted, the proposed investigation could involve carefully drilled access points through which miniature vehicles equipped with cameras would be deployed. Ballard told Nature that this work could begin in November.

Independent geophysicists quoted in the source described the findings as plausible and intriguing but called for more detail before firm conclusions are drawn. The full microgravity data have not yet been released by the research team. For now, the surveys provide a case for targeted inspection; they do not establish that Nefertiti is buried there or that every detected anomaly is an artificial chamber.

Sources