The 10 year old inside me is so incredibly excited. My actual 10 year old self was obsessed with tombs and ancient Egypt. I remember a whole summer I couldn't stop thinking about and talking about the "Sphinx on the face of Mars". Thankfully these days I have friends, but I have been rewatching all of Stargate so this is very timely.
Makes sense, the king dies unexpectedly, you need a tomb real quick. It probably takes years to dig these tombs and that's assuming you've found a suitable place to dig. You pick an existing tomb of a less popular ruler, wall of some sections (but maybe leave the artifacts?), renovate the new main chamber for him, and put a new name out front.
It's like those dilapidated buildings in NYC where the ground floor is some store but everything upstairs is basically uninhabitable decay. The store makes enough rental income to justify not renovating the upper floors into something actually usable.
Incidentally i always found the idea of an explorer grabbing the mysterious jewelled skull and getting cursed similar to the thought exercise of how we warn future cultures about the dangers of long term radioactive waste.
The warning needs to transcend language so you probably think a skull is pretty clear right? Put a big skull there, maybe make it light up or eye catching in some way just to really seal the deal? Surely they understand "don't go near this". Yet in a million years time you're probably going to get some explorer "finding the mysterious and cursed crystal skull" who will subsequently die of "the mysterious curse". It would have made a more interesting ending for that Indiana Jones movie that's for sure.
this would have been a fun headline 20 years ago but as technology has improved, it's getting more and more absurd that we don't just have multiple datasets from different imaging methods of the whole entire structure.
I feel like I see this headline ever 2 months. it's like cancer research. lots of fluff, never any progress. then you get the alien people saying it's cuz they're hiding aliens. i'm exhausted.
In the related articles sidebar there is an article from 2020:
Is this Nefertiti’s tomb? Radar clues reignite debate over hidden chambers
A new survey hints at a previously unknown space beyond Tutankhamun’s burial chamber.
This is a good question and there is a real practical answer. The tomb is not in a Pyramid but deep in a mountain reachable by a narrow stairway. You'd have to cut away or dig through the mountain to come close enough for a metal detector.
I have fond memories of reading National Geographic magazine growing up. I remember they had memorable issues with King Tut. And Ancient Egypt in general. Made me fall in love with learning about Ancient Egypt.
Anyone else here have fond memories of reading those old National Geographic issues?
It's like those dilapidated buildings in NYC where the ground floor is some store but everything upstairs is basically uninhabitable decay. The store makes enough rental income to justify not renovating the upper floors into something actually usable.
Okay, sure, explore away. But I'm not coming along, and if you find any jeweled skulls don't touch them.
The warning needs to transcend language so you probably think a skull is pretty clear right? Put a big skull there, maybe make it light up or eye catching in some way just to really seal the deal? Surely they understand "don't go near this". Yet in a million years time you're probably going to get some explorer "finding the mysterious and cursed crystal skull" who will subsequently die of "the mysterious curse". It would have made a more interesting ending for that Indiana Jones movie that's for sure.
and
https://gwern.net/doc/technology/1993-trauth.pdf
Anyone else here have fond memories of reading those old National Geographic issues?