For at least 3,339 years, nobody has seen what lies behind the west and north walls of the burial chamber of Tutankhamun.
But this secret of three millennia might not last much longer.
On Thursday, Mamdouh Eldamaty, the Egyptian antiquities minister, held a press conference in Cairo to announce a tantalizing new piece of evidence: Radar scans on those walls have revealed not only the presence of hidden chambers, but also unidentified objects that lie within these rooms.
These objects, Eldamaty said, seem to be composed of both metal and organic materials.
“It could be the discovery of the century,” he said.
He said that another radar test has been scheduled for the end of this month, in order to determine the best way to proceed with the investigation.