Archaeologist searching for Cleopatra’s long-lost tomb makes ‘important’ discovery

An archaeologist searching for the long-lost tomb of Cleopatra VII has made an ‘important’ discovery at a site believed to be the queen’s final resting place.

Kathleen Martinez, who has been searching for the grave for nearly two decades, has discovered a statue that may depict the true face of the tomb. queen who ruled from 51 to 30 BC.

The white marble statue, which is just the head, has the likeness of a woman with a small nose, pouty lips and the hair braided around the head.

Martinez and her team also found 337 coins depicting Cleopatra, along with an assortment of pottery, oil lamps, figurines and other artifacts in the Temple of Taposiris Magna.

The expert has long believed that the queen’s tomb is hidden somewhere in the ruins of the temple, which lie on top a 1200 meter long tunnel, 13 meters underground.

Martinez believes that Cleopatra’s body was moved from the palace through the tunnel and buried in a secret location.

However, other archaeologists have suggested that the statue depicts a different royal woman.

Critics of Martinez have also dismissed her theory about the queen’s burial, saying Cleopatra was buried in the city of Alexandria, and not 25 miles away.

This is another “important finding,” said Mohamed Ismail Khaled, secretary general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has said discoveries at Taposiris Magna are crucial to improving experts’ understanding of the architectural, cultural and ceremonial practices of the time.

In addition to the potential statue of Cleopatra, also Martinez and her team has unearthed a limestone bust of a king, decorated with the Nemes, the ceremonial headdress of the pharaohs.

Martinez led a team of Egyptian and Dominican archaeologists for this excavation, carried out in collaboration with the Pedro Henríquez Ureña National University,

According to a statement, researchers discovered foundation deposits under the southern wall of the temple’s outdoor area.

The female statue was the most important find; some experts have questioned whether it actually depicts Cleopatra, as Martinez believes.

Others have pointed out differences in facial features between the statue and the ancient queen, suggesting that it might represent a princess instead.

But this artifact isn’t the only discovery that bears Cleopatra’s likeness.

Martinez and her team also found more than 300 coins, many decorated with her image.

Other notable finds include a scarab-shaped amulet with the inscription ‘The justice of Ra has shone’, a bronze ring dedicated to the goddess Hathor and ancient burial sites.

The researchers discovered a large cemetery with twenty burial chambers and a tomb with three chambers under the Taposiris Magna lighthouse.

Martinez discovered the tunnel in 2022, which is said to resemble the Tunnel of Eupalinos on the Greek island of Samos – revered as one of the most important engineering achievements of the classical world.

Martínez said Heritage key in 2022: ‘If there is even a one percent chance that Egypt’s last queen is buried there, it is my duty to find her.

“This is the first time an archaeologist has found tunnels, underground passages (and) within the walls of the temple, so we have forever changed what they know about the architecture.”

The archaeologist believes that after Mark Antony committed suicide following his defeat by Caesar Augustus, also known as Octavian, Cleopatra drew up detailed plans to bury them both there, in echoes of the myth.

In addition, the mission found the remains of a Greek temple from the fourth century BC. It was destroyed between the second century BC and the beginning of the AD era.

That temple is connected to a complex underground tunnel system that extends from Lake Mariot to the Mediterranean Sea.

Analysis of ceramic fragments uncovered during the excavation also confirmed that the construction of the Taposiris Magna temple dates back to the 1st century BC.

The temple’s name means ‘great tomb of Osiris’, suggesting that it was dedicated to the god Osiris and his queen – the goddess Isis – of whom Cleopatra was believed to be a reincarnation.

Today, Taposiris Magna lies in ruins because the Egyptian coastline was ravaged by earthquakes over the centuries, causing parts of the temple to collapse and sink into the sea.

The site has been excavated several times, with the first excavation being carried out by Napoleon in the early 19th century.

Martinez first began investigating the site in 2005 because she believes Cleopatra may have been buried there after her suicide in 30 BC.

She thinks Cleopatra’s death was a ceremonial act – part of a ritual apotheosis, or casting off her mortal body to ascend to the states of a goddess.

If that were true, she would have been buried in a temple, most likely a temple built in Iris’s name.

Over the past two decades, Martinez has made numerous discoveries that strengthen experts’ understanding of the Ptolemaic period, including skeletal remains, but she still has not found the ancient queen’s tomb.