Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Monday 7 May 2018
Egypt says no hidden rooms in King Tut's tomb after all

By MOHAMMED WAGDY king's burial chamber. The
CAIRO (AP) — New radar discovery ignited massive
scans have provided con- interest, with officials first
clusive evidence that there rushing to support the theo-
are no hidden rooms inside ry but then later distancing
King Tutankhamun's burial themselves and ultimately
chamber, Egypt's antiqui- rejecting it.
ties ministry said Sunday, The ministry says two pre-
bringing a disappointing vious scans by Japanese
end to years of excitement and American scientists
over the prospect. had proved inconclusive,
Mostafa Waziri, Secretary but insists this latest ground-
General of the Supreme penetrating radar data
Council of Antiquities, said closes the lid on the tomb
an Italian team conduct- having such hidden se-
ed extensive studies with crets. "It is concluded, with
ground-penetrating radar a very high degree of con-
that showed the tomb did fidence, said Dr. Porcelli,
not contain any hidden, the hypothesis concerning
man-made blocking walls the existence of hidden
as was earlier suspected. chambers or corridors ad-
Francesco Porcelli of the jacent to Tutankhamun's
Polytechnic University of tomb is not supported by
Turin presented the findings the GPR data," it said in its
at an international confer- In this April 1, 2016 file photo, radar scanning experts scan a wall in King Tutankhamun's burial statement.
ence in Cairo. chamber in the Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Egypt. The ministry has been grad-
"Our work shows in a con- Associated Press ually moving King Tut's be-
clusive manner that there longings to a new museum
are no hidden chambers, was a theory that argued porting this theory." tion laser scans, that queen outside Cairo near the Giza
no corridors adjacent to Tu- the possible existence of In 2015, British Egyptologist Nefertiti's tomb could be Pyramids to undergo resto-
tankhamun's tomb," Porcel- these chambers but unfor- Nicholas Reeves proposed, concealed behind wall ration before they are put
li said, "As you know there tunately our work is not sup- after analysis of high-defini- paintings in the famed boy on display. q

Swiss Guards: World's oldest standing army gets new headgear

The Swiss Guards plan to the elaborate, pomp-filled Medici family.
replace their metal hel- swearing-in ceremony in It's only one of several out-
mets with plastic PVC ones the San Damaso courtyard fits the guards wear. Those
made with a 3-D printer, of the Apostolic Palace. policing the Vatican's main
giving the pope's army But Swiss Guard spokes- entrances don far more so-
cooler and more com- man Sgt. Urs Breitenmoser ber navy uniforms topped
fortable headgear when said the Guards hope to with a snappy beret for
standing guard for hours at replace their existing metal their regular shifts.
a time. helmets by next year if they The corps, which historians
The Swiss Guards unveiled can find sponsors to pay for consider the oldest stand-
the helmet prototype be- the new ones, which cost ing army in the world, was
fore their annual swearing- around 880 euros ($957) founded in 1506 by Pope
in ceremony Sunday. Thirty- apiece, half the cost of the Giulio II. Tradition has it that
two new recruits — all of old ones. he was so impressed by
them single Swiss men un- The Swiss Guards are fa- the bravery of Swiss merce-
der age 30 and upstand- mous for their billowy blue, naries that he asked them
ing Catholics — will join the red and yellow striped uni- to defend the Vatican.

In this May 6, 2007 file photo, an unidentified Swiss Guard puts small corps for a minimum forms. According to a his- Ever since, for more than
his helmet on the head of his girlfriend during a ceremony in the two years by pledging to tory on the Guards' web- 500 years, Switzerland has
"Honour Courtyard" at the Vatican. protect the pope and his site, the "Gala Uniform" as it been supplying soldiers to
successors. is known, was designed by the Vatican.
By NICOLE WINFIELD world's oldest standing The new helmets won't be Commander Jules Repond The May 6 date for the an-
Associated Press army is getting some new donned Sunday since more in the early 1900s and is nual swearing-in ceremony
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The headgear. formal helmets are used for based on the colors of the commemorates the day in
1527 when 147 guardsmen
died while protecting Pope
Clement VII during the Sack
of Rome.
The new helmets won't pro-
tect guardsmen against
other such threats, howev-
er, since they're plastic and
purely ceremonial. Breiten-
moser said they would be
used for papal Masses and
state visits.q