KV64

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"KV64" is a radar anomaly discovered in the Valley of the Kings pharaonic necropolis in Egypt. It is believed that the anomaly could either be a new tomb or a chamber and is located 50 feet north of KV63 which was discovered in March 2006. The designation of KV64 is not official, and the existence of such a tomb is dismissed by Zahi Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities^[1]. It is possible, however, that Reeves' announcement of the KV64 find displeased^{[citation needed]} Dr. Hawass since only the Supreme Council of Antiquities can formally make such an official pronouncement on a tomb's status. In a letter to USA Today, Dr. Hawass writes:

If what Mr. Reeves says is true, then why didn't he present this report to the Supreme Council of Antiquities" and adds "Radar can also show anomalies that are not necessarily tomb shafts. It seems to me that Mr. Reeves wants publicity more than conducting his work through a scientific approach. For this reason, I am writing you to state that the information is not true.

Reeves responds to Hawass' criticism by noting that that "he had alerted Hawass and the Supreme Council as to KV 63's location in August 2005, but received no reply. Anticipating a similar response for KV 64, "rightly or wrongly," Reeves says, he decided to release the information about the possible new tomb without any delay. "Yes, I am clearly seeking publicity — but not for my own ends," he says by e-mail. "My sole ambition in this is to see archaeological work in the Valley of the Kings carried out with the care and attention it deserves and so desperately needs." ^[2]

[edit] Discovery

The anomaly was discovered by the team of researchers from the Amarna Royal Tombs Project^[3] (ARTP), led by Nicholas Reeves in the autumn of 2000. The team undertook a geophysical survey using ground-penetrating radar from 1998 to 2002 in the central area of Valley of the Kings. As per the information revealed by the team so far, two such anomalies were pinpointed by the radar survey and one of them turned out as KV63. However, a team led by Egyptologist Otto Schaden discovered KV63 independently by sheer chance on 10 March 2005, months before the ARTP made its survey results public.

The discovery of KV64 was announced on 28 July 2006. This is the first time in the history of Egyptology the exact location of a tomb or ruin has been announced without any physical excavation or evidence.

In radar images, both the anomalies appeared as a distinctive pattern of radiating arcs, which were interpreted by the ARTP radar specialist Hirokatsu Watanabe as voids or underground chambers. The location of KV63 and the first anomaly in the results matched precisely, thus confirming the interpretation physically and thereby raising the thought that the other anomaly present in the results may by all chance be another tomb or at least a chamber similar to KV63.