LUXOR (AFP).- Further analysis is needed of the tomb of pharaoh Tutankhamun to determine if the resting place also contains the remains of legendary beauty Queen Nefertiti, Egypt's antiquities minister said Thursday.

Khaled al-Anani appeared to dim some of the optimism surrounding the tomb in the ancient necropolis of Luxor after his predecessor said this month that there was a "90 percent chance" of two hidden chambers possibly containing organic material at the site.

"I hope we are going to find something else, but nothing is certain at the moment," Anani told AFP outside Tutankhamun's tomb.

He was speaking as new radar tests were carried out on the mausoleum. Results are expected on Friday.

A study by renowned British archaeologist Nicholas Reeves has said that Nefertiti's tomb could be in a secret chamber adjoining Tutankhamun's final resting place in the Valley of Kings at Luxor in southern Egypt.

Reeves, professor of archaeology at the University of Arizona, believes one door of Tutankhamun's tomb could conceal the burial place of Nefertiti.

According to him, Tutankhamun, who died unexpectedly, was buried hurriedly in an underground chamber probably not intended for him.

Former antiquities minister Mamduh al-Damati said this month that preliminary scans had unearthed evidence of "two hidden rooms behind the burial chamber" of the boy king.

Anani said Thursday that analysis would determine the thickness of a possible wall behind the funerary chamber.

"There is a possibility that there is a cavity, after the latest scan. I hope we will find something... but as a scientist I need to be careful before announcing results," Anani said.

He added that if the latest scan revealed further evidence of a hidden room, a small hole could be bored through a wall and a camera inserted to discover what lay behind.



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