Amazing Mummies: King Tut's Great Grandparents

At 3,400 years old, Yuya and Tuyu don't look their age. And they were buried with treasures that hint at what might lie hidden behind Tut's tomb.

By A. R. Williams for National Geographic
PUBLISHED MARCH 3, 2016

Photocredit: National Geographic

A recent radar scan of King Tut's tomb revealed tantalizing hints that one or more rooms may lie behind the painted walls of the teenage pharaoh's burial chamber. The final report is due soon. If it confirms the existence of hidden spaces, Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves will be vindicated. It was his reading of the evidence that prompted the scan of Tut’s tomb, known to archaeologists as KV 62.

But that's only the first part of his hypothesis. Reeves also believes the hidden rooms likely hold the burial of the legendary Queen Nefertiti, Tut’s stepmother. The idea is breathtaking. The tomb of a beautiful and beloved royal wife, who became extraordinarily powerful in her own right, could hold treasures that eclipse the wonderful things that were buried with Tut.

But what if another relative is buried there instead of Nefertiti? What might that person's eternal possessions look like? Glimpses of the possible array of artifacts can be seen among the grave goods of Tut's great grandparents—Yuya, his great grandfather, and Tuyu, his great grandmother, who lived around 1400 B.C.