| The Tunnel in the Tomb of Seti I |
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My friends and I used to sit with Sheikh Ali at night, laughing and playing games. But the Sheikh felt that I was different from the others, and he would single me out. We spent a lot of time talking, just the two of us, about many different things. One day he asked me to go with him to the Valley of the Kings, into the burial chamber of the tomb of Seti I. He pointed out the entrance to a roughly-cut tunnel, which he told me descended for about 100 meters (300 feet) and ended in the secret burial chamber of Seti I. I found out later that although there certainly is a long tunnel, Seti I’s real burial cannot be hidden at the end, as he was clearly buried in the main part of the tomb. The king’s massive alabaster sarcophagus was found in the burial chamber tomb by Italian adventurer Giovanni Belzoni in 1817. He took this to England, and it is now displayed in the Sir John Soane Museum in London. More important is the fact the Seti I’s mummy was found in the first royal mummy cache, the one found by the Abdel Rassouls in 1871. But Sheikh Ali told me that one day I would become an important archaeologist, and it would be my destiny to explore this mysterious tunnel. None of the other tombs in the Valley of the Kings has such a tunnel, and Egyptologists have not been able to explain exactly what it is or why it is there. Some have suggested that it is symbolic, and leads down into the underworld, where the king’s soul would join with the ruler of the dead Osiris so that he could be resurrected. But why is he the only king to have this? How do we know that this is really what it means? When I became the head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, I decided that I wanted to explore this tunnel. In 2003, I entered the tunnel for the first time. I attached myself to a thick rope for safety, and a light was set up so that I could see. I wore my famous hat, and took a measuring tape with me. I descended along a gentle slope, but at the 252-foot mark, I decided it was too dangerous to continue. Rock was falling, and the tunnel was clearly unstable. It was also becoming narrower, and I knew that we would have to do serious work to make the tunnel safe before we could explore further. I entered for a second time as part of a program made by David Jackson of KCBS in Los Angeles about Tutankhamun and the Valley of the Kings. Just this year, I decided to make Sheikh Ali’s dream come true. As part of the first truly Egyptian archaeological project in the Valley of the Kings, we are now doing a scientific study of the tunnel. A geological survey has been carried out, and we have begun clearance, working slowly to guarantee the safety of my all-Egyptian team. This team, which works under my supervision, is headed by Dr. Tarek El Awady. To date, we have cleared about 40 meters (120 feet) of the tunnel. The results are intriguing: among the finds are a number of non-royal New Kingdom shabtis, dating to near the reign of Seti I. I hope that by the end of 2008 we will be able to reveal the final mysteries of the tomb of Seti I, the most beautiful tomb in the valley. |