1. Where is the secret burial chamber of this beautiful mysterious Egyptian Queen called Neferneferuaten Nefertiti? Where is her tomb or final resting place? What do we know about her? From age nine, I’ve been obsessed, fascinated with Ancient Egyptian burial practices & beliefs.
2. Ancient Egyptians were very interested in their afterlife, very invested in it. One of the key parts of having a good afterlife, is to preserve your mortal body. If your body is preserved & recognizable, your “spirit essence” can go into it, & reanimate it.
3. So mummification is a crucial component of attaining a happy afterlife. A great deal of effort, economic wealth & rituals were put into making sure the afterlife was going to be fantastic. Afterlife is really an extension of this life, except it is better & for eternity.
4. Having the right grave goods was really important. We have two categories of grave goods. The first is to help you get through this world to the next. It is all sorts of magical & ritual objects that protects or guide you on the journey to the underworld
5. The second are things for your soul to feed on, things to enjoy in the afterlife, the same way you did in this life. All these objects will be put inside the tomb, as well as having paintings of them as insurance.
6. Lord of the Underworld was a position held by the god “Anubis.” Back then, he enjoyed preeminence among Egyptian gods. His role was to care for the dead. He was the “conductor of souls” as well. Anubis was later replaced by the god “Osiris.”
7. When a king dies, he becomes Osiris, & his living son - “Horus.” Osiri & Horus were therefore father & son. The goddess “Isis” was the mother of the king. Therefore the mother of Horus & consort to Osiris. The god “Seth” was the murderer of Osiris, hence the enemy of Horus.
8. Horus avenged Osiris by defeating Seth. He then ruled Egypt as king. The afterlife of ancient Egyptians was called Sekhet-A'Aru, translated as the “Field of Reeds.” It’s a land just like the one you knew, only there are no sickness, no disappointments, no deaths.
9. Back to my story, tomb of Queen Nefertiti (My Alter Ego) has never been found. Her burial chamber has remained a mystery for thousands of years. Nefertiti & the Boy King Tut, are arguably two of the most renowned figures in ancient Egyptians History.
10. While Tutankhamun owes his fame to the stunning & priceless golden treasures that were buried with him, Queen Nefertiti is remembered for her remarkable life & beauty. She ruled ancient Egypt alongside her husband - the Pharaoh Akhenaten. This was more than 3,300 years ago.
11. Their reign was a period of tremendous affluence, but also of great social unrest. A bust of Queen Nefertiti unearthed by archaeologists, attests to her legendary beauty. Her name is translated as - “a beautiful woman has come.”
12. Her numerous titles included “Lady of all Women, Great of Praises, & Mistress of Upper & Lower Egypt.” And yet, her tomb has never been found. Her mummified body prepared for its journey in the afterlife, likely rests in the “Valley of the Kings,” but where?
13. Where is this mysterious secret burial chamber of Queen Nefertiti? If the tomb was originally built for Nefertiti, then why was Tut (the boy king) later interred in there? Archaeologists think the reason could be steeped in the turmoil of her Era.
14. Queen Nefertiti & her husband - Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, had created a new state religion that rejected Egypt’s polytheism, & worshipped the sun god - “Aten” as the one true god. Here you could see Nefertiti offering prayers to the sun god Aten.
15. Amenhotep changed his name to Akhenaten, meaning “the servant of Aten,” & moved the nation’s capital from Thebes to a hastily built city called el-Armana. This was forbidden, so later Egypt’s kings branded this monotheistic religion - heresy.
16. They sought to destroy the records of Akhenaten & Nefertiti’s reign. Scholars believe that after her husband’s death, Nefertiti continued to rule as pharaoh under the name Smenkhkare. As one of the unresolved mysteries of Armana period, very little is known about Smenkhkare.
17. When Nefertiti died, she was placed in an extravagant tomb, bcos as sole ruler, she had to be entitled to a more elaborate funeral paraphernalia of a full fledged king. At the time of her burial, there had been no intention that Tut would in due course, occupy this same tomb.
18. Scholars believe that the sudden unexpected death of Tut left the ancient Egyptians unprepared, with no tomb yet dug for the Boy King. So they did the next best thing; they used a royal tomb that had already been built. This cracks the puzzle wide open, it changes everything.
19. There is this strong feeling within the archaeology world that Nefertiti may well be buried somewhere in the Valley of the Kings. Not only was she of the greatest historical importance, but she lived in a period of the most superb arts. So it would be amazing to find her tomb
20. Until the hidden chambers in Tut’s tomb are further explored, we may never witness the discovery of this most remarkable beauty in History. Only when her tomb is found, will the world find out whether Nefertiti “the beautiful woman has come,” has finally made her return! 👸😍
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