The Golden Mask of King Tut The Code. Jesús Ariel Aguirre

modern world first heard of its existence in December 1912. As part of the second of several winter campaigns organized by the German Oriental Society, the architect and Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt undertook the excavations of the ruins of the defunct city of Ajtaton. The scientist, who since 1907 directed the German Institute of Egyptian Sciences of Antiquity in Cairo, was looking for, at the express request of Kaiser Wilhelm II, objects of artistic value and archaeological interest with which to supply the Royal Museums of Berlin. The company had its good dose of national pride, megalomania and rivalry with France and Great Britain: the Louvre and the Brirish Museum had long shown interest in the treasures of ancient Egyptian civilization as well.

      The bust was discovered on December 6, 1912, by the German archaeologist Ludwig Brochardt, it is believed that this limestone sculpture preceding the Great Temple of Aton in Ajetaton, only 50 centimeters tall, was completed by the artist Tuthmosis in 1345 BC The piece immortalized Nefertiti as an ideal symbol of feminine beauty.

      It is said that shortly after stopping for lunch, as Borchardt wrote in his diary, they claimed his presence at house P47.2 as soon as possible. Fragments of a life-size bust had just appeared in room 19 of the sculptor Tutmosis’s workshop. The workers continued to excavate towards the east wall, through a pile of rubble of more than one meter. More pieces came to light, especially short busts. Various of Nefertiti. And then a flesh-colored nape appeared with ribbons painted in red. The men put their shovels aside and continued to dig and remove the sand with their hands. By exposing the bottom of the piece, they recognized the back of a dark blue royal crown. What Borchardt’s team exhumed from the Amarna rubble that afternoon was something fabulous: a two-foot-high, 3,260-year-old polychrome bust. His ears were damaged and the inlay from the iris of his left eye had disappeared, but the tooth was otherwise unscathed. Excited, Boechardt noted in his diary: “We had in our hands the most vibrant work of Egyptian art.” In compliance with the law, which stipulated that all the finds should be made known, the researcher then began a negotiation with the Frenchman Gustave Lefebvre, representative of the Egyptian archaeological authority. Borchardt, a member of the German Oriental Society, then sent the bust to Berlin, where it was kept under lock and key for twelve years before being presented to the public for the first time in 1924.

      Madness broke out; the Berlin exhibition caused a sensation. Nefertiti rose to fame overnight. Turned into a silent star, she immediately filled the covers of magazines around the world.

      The bust has become his image in the eyes of the modern world, especially for its characteristic blue crown. She is one of the most famous icons of Ancient Egypt, and yet the queen she portrays is still surrounded by mystery and intrigue. Although she was not a ruler, Nefertiti is key figures in history thanks to her influential position as wife and queen, something that is reflected in the representations of her that survive to this day. Historians have deduced that Nefertiti was one of the main defenders of Akhenaten’s religious and cultural movements, she represented the feminine aspect of Aton while her husbands represented the masculine, together they acted as a bridge between Aton and the Egyptian people.

      What else do we know about her? As expected at the time, Nefertiti married Amenhotep IV when she was only 15 years old.

      It is also believed that she had royal lineage, for some historians, she was the daughter of Ay, an important advisor to several pharaohs; including Akhenaten husband of Nefertiti (Ay even became pharaoh after Tutankhamun’s death in 1323 BC). Other scholars speculate that she was a princess from the kingdom of Mtani, located in northern Syria, what we know is that she had a sister named Mutbenret (or Mutnodjemet), and it appears in Amarna art that has survived to this day.

      Nefertiti was Akhenaten’s favorite consort, or Great Royal Wife, from the beginning of his reign. According to historical records, Nefertiti had six daughters with Akhenaten named Meritaten, Meketaten, Ankhes-em-pa-aten, Neferneferuaten-tasherit, Neferneferure, and Setepenre. Despite not having male children, Amarna art portrays that the couple had a strong and loving relationship. Nefertiti also appears in a wide variety of roles, be it driving floats, in ceremonial acts with the King, and killing her enemies. One theory holds that she became co-regent with her husband under the name of Neferneferuaton. It is even thought that, on the death of her husband, she became queen-pharaoh for a short period of time under the name of Semenejkara.

      We only know that he lived almost 3,500 years ago in a fascinating period in Egyptian history. However, the details of his biography are an enigma and a field on which archaeologists do not agree. I undoubtedly hold a leading role in the royal court of Amarna, the horizon of the sun, the new capital founded by the great Akhenaten in honor of the solar disk.

      Some experts advise not to overestimate the position of the queen; others argue that he enjoyed the same prerogatives, if not more, than Ajenaton himself. Recently the merited German Egyptologist Hermann Schlogl perplexed the academic world by claiming that Nefertiti was the true engine of the religious revolution of her time and responsible for such radical transformations. Schlogl has re-translated a long-known inscription from the Great Hall of Columns in the Karnak temple, and in his reinterpretation argues that the queen claims to have pulled Aton, which would be evidence of her active role. Added to this is the fact that Nefertiti possessed two cartridges (names that appear in the inscriptions surrounded by an oval rope with knotted ends), a privilege reserved for the pharaoh, while the other pharaoh wives were assigned a single cartridge.

      Schlogl’s claims are controversial. The specialist in the Amarna period Christian Loeben, professor at the University of Gotina and director of the Egyptian collection at the August Kestner Museum in Hannover, flatly rejects what he calls fantasies. “Nefertiti had neither voice nor vote, on the political or religious level - he asserts-. The only reason that his role was so prominent, always alongside Ajenaton, was because it suited Pharaoh’s theology. “

      Not even his grave has been found, although several times they have been slow to award him one.

      For the English Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves, he believes that the tomb of the legendary queen is hidden behind walls located north of the burial chamber of Tutankhamun. Based on several recently published high-resolution photographs, he deduces that the walls of the burial chamber of tomb KV62 in the Valley of the Kings reveal marked linear features beneath the stuccoed surface with painted scenes, Reeves says in a recently published study. Reeves describe these hidden features in the walls as “two doors that had not been recognized until now.” According to the most recent analysis, behind the north wall there is a “hole” up to 1.5 meters in diameter and 2 meters deep. That wall to the north is the same one that contains the remains of organic materials and metal, according to the Egyptian antiquities holder, Mamdouh El Damaty. If these organic materials correspond to the remains of Nefertiti, “it could be the discovery of the century for Egypt, said the minister.

      And he considers that these doors give access to two independent chambers: a storage chamber to the west of Tutankhamun’s burial chamber and a continuation of KV62 to the north, prior to Tutankhamun’s time, “which would contain the owner’s intact burial original from the tomb, Nefertiti.”

      Last November, a group of archaeologists led by the Japanese Hirokatsu Waranabe analyzed the walls of the tomb with infrared radar, managing to confirm the existence of empty spaces behind the two walls of the burial chamber of the monarch Tut Ankh Amon.

      It is believed that these hidden chambers could be the final resting place of the legendary Nefertiti, who reigned in Egypt during the 14th century BC and is presumed to be the stepmother of Tut Ankh Amon.

      Also according to Reeves, he must have occupied the kingdom, after Akhenaten’s death in 1336 BC a brief interregnum during which Nefertiti had to occupy the throne of Egypt under the name of Semenejkara, then his immediate successor was Tutankhamun who died prematurely at the age of 19 age. It is here that he believes that “During Nefertiti’s burial in KV62 there was surely no intention for Tutankhamun to occupy” the same tomb in due course. This idea materialized until the early and unexpected death of the king a decade later. As there was no excavated grave for him, the KV62 was used, reopened and made accessible to include a new camera.

      Another tomb that was discarded was KV35. Other archaeologists claim