An archaeologist on a quest to find the long-lost tomb of Cleopatra VII has made a ‘significant’ discovery at a site believe to be queen’s final resting place.
Kathleen Martinez, who has been searching for the tomb for nearly 20 years, uncovered a statue that may depict the true face of the queen who ruled 51 to 30 BC.
The white marble statue, which is just the head, features 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 bearing the image of Cleopatra, along with an assortment of pottery, oil lamps, figurines and other artifacts at the Temple of Taposiris Magna.
The expert has long believed the queen’s tomb has been hiding somewhere in the temple’s ruins, which sit atop a 4,281-foot-long tunnel 43 feet underground.
Martinez believes Cleopatra’s body was moved from the palace through the tunnel and buried at a secret location.
However, other archaeologists have suggested that the statue depicts another royal woman.
Critics of Martinez have also slammed her theory of the queen’s burial, saying Cleopatra was laid to rest in the city of Alexandria, not 25 miles outside of it.
Archaeologists have uncovered a statue that may depict Cleopatra VII, the Egyptian Queen famous for her beauty and intelligence who ruled 51 to 30 BC
Cleopatra ruled from 51 BC to 30 BC – right up until the day she died. She was the queen of Egypt and the last and most famous of the Ptolemaic dynasty
This is another ‘significant finding,’ according to Mohamed Ismail Khaled, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.
The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has said that discoveries at Taposiris Magna are crucial for improving experts’ understanding of the architectural, cultural and ceremonial practices of the time.
In addition to the potential statue of Cleopatra, Martinez and her team also unearthed a limestone bust of a king adorned with the Nemes, the ceremonial headdress of the pharaohs.
Martinez led a team of Egyptian and Dominican archaeologists for this dig, conducted in collaboration with the National University Pedro Henríquez Ureña,
The researchers discovered foundation deposits beneath the southern wall of the temple’s outer enclosure, according to a statement.
The female statue was the most significant finding, 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 may depict a princess instead.
But this artifact isn’t the only discovery that bears Cleopatra’s resemblance.
Martinez and her team also found more than 300 coins, many of which are decorated with her image.
Other notable findings include a scarab-shaped amulet inscribed with the phrase ‘The justice of Ra has shone,’ a bronze ring dedicated to the goddess Hathor and ancient burial sites.
The statue and other artifacts – including coins engraved with Cleopatra’s face as well as an assortment of pottery, oil lamps, figurines and more – were found at the Taposiris Magna temple complex 25 miles west of Alexandria
Martinez and her team also found more than 300 coins, many of which are decorated with Cleopatra’s image
The researchers discovered a large cemetery containing 20 burial chambers, and a tomb with three chambers beneath the Taposiris Magna lighthouse.
Martinez discovered the tunnel in 2022, which was 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.
Martinez told Heritage Key in 2022: ‘If there’s a oneper cent chance that the last queen of Egypt could be buried there, it is my duty to search for her.
‘This is the first time that any archeologist has found tunnels, passages underground [and] inside the enclosure walls of the temple, so we have changed forever what they know about the architecture.’
The archaeologist believes that, after Mark Antony killed himself following his defeat to Caesar Augustus, also known as Octavian, Cleopatra put detailed plans in place for them both to be buried there, in echoes of the myth.
In addition, the mission found the remains of a Greek temple dating back to the fourth century BC. It was destroyed between the second century BC and the beginning of the AD era.
Martinez and her team also found 337 coins bearing the image of Cleopatra, along with an assortment of pottery, oil lamps, figurines and o ther artifacts at the Temple of Taposiris Magna
Martinez discovered the tunnel in 2022, which was 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
That temple is connected to a complex underground tunnel system that stretches from Lake Mariout to the Mediterranean Sea.
Analysis of ceramic fragments uncovered by the dig also confirmed that the construction of the Taposiris Magna temple dates to the 1st century BC.
The temple’s name means ‘great tomb of Osiris,’ suggesting it was dedicated to the god Osiris and his queen – the goddess Isis – who Cleopatra was believed to be a reincarnation of.
Today, Taposiris Magna is in ruins because the Egyptian coastline was battered by earthquakes over the centuries, causing parts of the temple to collapse and sink into the sea.
The site has been excavated multiple times, with the first dig dispatched by Napoleon in the early 19th century.
Martinez first began investigating the site in 2005, as she believes that Cleopatra may have been laid to rest there after her suicide in 30 BC.
She thinks that Cleopatra’s death was a ceremonial act – part of a ritual apotheosis, or the shedding of 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 erected in the name of Iris.
Over the last 20 years, 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.
