3D map of the Valley of the Kings, new mysteries emerge

New mysteries are emerging in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, mapped for the first time in 3D by the researchers of the Polytechnic of Turin: their instruments have probed a total area of ​​30,000 square meters up to a depth of five meters, finding some of the tombs soil anomalies that could lead to new archaeological discoveries. This is indicated by the results published in the journal Sensors.

3D maps can be of great help to archaeologists to see what's under the ground even before starting the excavations, but not only. "We would like to be able to continue the scans inside the tombs to make them accessible at least virtually to disabled people who cannot access them," explains study coordinator Franco Porcelli, professor of physics at the Polytechnic of Turin.

The work began a few years ago, when "the Egyptian authorities invited us to scan the tomb of Tutankhamun to check for any secret rooms or corridors," says Porcelli. "Before starting, they asked us to do some scans outside, and so we started our study, in collaboration with the University of Turin, 3DGeoimaging in Turin and Geostudi Astier in Livorno".

Thanks to georadars, magnetometers and electrotomographs, the researchers investigated the electromagnetic properties of the subsoil, while with laser scanners they reconstructed the topography of the Valley of the Kings. "We mapped the eastern branch where there are 62 known tombs, and then some areas of the Western branch where the existence of other burials is suspected, "says Porcelli. In the first case, an anomaly emerged about a dozen meters from the burial chamber of Tutankhamun's tomb. "The two things do not seem to be connected: the anomaly could be due to the hand of man but also to the nature of the terrain," specifies the expert. Finally, in the western branch of the valley, "we found another anomaly that could indicate the presence of a grave".