King Tut’s golden mask is one of the most famous treasures in the world, but it turns out it was hiding a secret all along! Experts recently discovered that the mask wasn’t originally made for Tutankhamun—it was actually meant for someone else. Closer examination revealed traces of another name underneath his, suggesting it may have belonged to a different pharaoh, possibly Queen Nefertiti. This shocking twist changes what we thought we knew about the young king’s burial and the rush to prepare his tomb. It seems like ancient Egyptians repurposed royal artifacts in ways we never imagined. Who knows what other hidden secrets are waiting to be uncovered? Credit:
CC BY-SA 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/ :
King Tut Burial Mask: By Mark Fischer, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:King_Tut_Burial_Mask_(23785641449).jpg
Howard Carter: By Cassowary Colorizations, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Howard_Carter_in_1924_(36759875345).png
King Tut's tomb: By Matt Howry, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Replica_of_King_Tut's_tomb_at_the_Luxor_in_Las_Vegas.jpg
Retrato femenino: By Ángel M. Felicísimo from Mérida, España, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Retrato_femenino_(26771127162).jpg
CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ :
Figure of Ancient Egyptian: By Wellcome Library, London, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Figure_of_Ancient_Egyptian,_Akhenaten_Wellcome_M0002767.jpg
Tutankhamun Gold Mask: By amirfiala1, https://skfb.ly/6QVMQ
Cleopatra Bust: By yugengen, https://skfb.ly/ptL8L
Egyptian Hieroglyphics Stone: By forest_cat, https://skfb.ly/6su7y
Look of the King: By Basma Eloufy, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ , https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Look_of_the_King.jpg
Ancientegypt / Reddit
OutoftheTombs / Reddit
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This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
CC BY-SA 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/ :
King Tut Burial Mask: By Mark Fischer, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:King_Tut_Burial_Mask_(23785641449).jpg
Howard Carter: By Cassowary Colorizations, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Howard_Carter_in_1924_(36759875345).png
King Tut's tomb: By Matt Howry, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Replica_of_King_Tut's_tomb_at_the_Luxor_in_Las_Vegas.jpg
Retrato femenino: By Ángel M. Felicísimo from Mérida, España, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Retrato_femenino_(26771127162).jpg
CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ :
Figure of Ancient Egyptian: By Wellcome Library, London, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Figure_of_Ancient_Egyptian,_Akhenaten_Wellcome_M0002767.jpg
Tutankhamun Gold Mask: By amirfiala1, https://skfb.ly/6QVMQ
Cleopatra Bust: By yugengen, https://skfb.ly/ptL8L
Egyptian Hieroglyphics Stone: By forest_cat, https://skfb.ly/6su7y
Look of the King: By Basma Eloufy, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ , https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Look_of_the_King.jpg
Ancientegypt / Reddit
OutoftheTombs / Reddit
Animation is created by Bright Side.
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Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV
Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz
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Stock materials (photos, footages and other):
https://www.depositphotos.com
https://www.shutterstock.com
https://www.eastnews.ru
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For more videos and articles visit:
http://www.brightside.me
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This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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FunTranscript
00:00We all know some iconic symbols. The Statue of Liberty screams USA. The Eiffel Tower represents Paris. And this mask?
00:09Undoubtedly, it's Tutankhamun's, right?
00:13Sometimes it feels like historians have squeezed every last drop out of the King Tut story.
00:18But guess what? The most obvious details often slip right under our noses.
00:23Like the fact that this famous mask didn't actually belong to him, nor was it ever meant for him.
00:30Stick with me for the details. Can we get a close-up of that mask? Thanks.
00:35See those holes? Yep, they're for earrings.
00:39And no, it's not that they had anything against jewelry.
00:42But back in ancient Egypt, earrings were typically worn by high-status women or kids.
00:49Now, if you know your history, you might say, but Tut was a boy king, wasn't he?
00:54You're spot on. He began his reign at just 9 years old.
00:59Sadly, that didn't last long as he passed away at a very young age.
01:04So when he was 9, he might have worn earrings, but he probably took them off when he hit that no-earrings age.
01:10Sounds reasonable, right? Actually, not quite.
01:14That would have been pretty strange since nobody expected him to pass away young. Certainly not at 9.
01:21So no one was preparing a kid's mask for a burial.
01:24It's this untimely demise that suggests the mask used was simply the best option available when Tut passed away.
01:32There are more clues pointing to the idea that the mask was found in a hurry.
01:37Let's think about this. Even though Tut was mummified and his body could wait a bit,
01:42his loved ones wanted him to reach the afterlife ASAP.
01:46Some experts even believe the paint in the tomb was still wet when it was sealed.
01:50But look at his mask. It's a masterpiece.
01:54There's no way it was made in a rush. It's way more elaborate than other simpler cartonnage pieces.
02:00The renowned mask of King Tut stands 21 inches tall, adorned with precious stones,
02:06and features a golden beard that weighs 5.5 pounds, making the entire mask 22.5 pounds.
02:14Ok, I'm a bit confused here. So it seems like it was probably a kid's mask, but it had a beard?
02:21I've never seen a 9-year-old with a goatee, and I'm guessing you haven't either.
02:25Just think about it. A grown man's face compared to a kid's face.
02:30Fun fact for you. Our faces pretty much stopped growing at the age of 16.
02:34So by 19, Tut would have definitely had the face of an adult man.
02:39Can you imagine trying to fit a relatively small kid's mask on a grown man?
02:44That would have been super embarrassing. And no one would have let that happen.
02:49Right, let's dismiss the kid's theory.
02:52Now the second option, if you remember, is that the mask could have originally belonged to a woman.
02:58This is where the beard theory comes into play.
03:01Some researchers believe the beard might have been added later on.
03:05Here's another twist. What if the mask was actually made for Nefertiti herself, who ended up maskless?
03:13In this case, there are two discoveries. Ahem, two birds with one stone.
03:18For now it sounds like a conspiracy theory, I know, but let's give it a shot and delve deeper into the details.
03:26So, Tut passed away in around 1323 BCE, probably due to malaria.
03:32He had other health issues too, like when he broke his leg, and records suggest he wasn't in the best shape.
03:38As for Nefertiti, we have no solid data about her demise.
03:42Plus, nobody knows exactly when or where she was buried.
03:46The supposed year when she passed away is around 1330 BCE,
03:51but she could have lived longer, and the mask was intended and prepared for her.
03:55Or maybe they just took her mask right from the burial chamber.
03:59After all, they were family. Well, sort of.
04:03She was said to be his stepmom, having been married to Akhenaten, who was likely Tut's father.
04:08But this is not 100% accurate. Some scientists doubt it.
04:11Ah, these ancient Egyptian families. It's hard to keep track of who's who.
04:16I know, you're not yet convinced that Tut wore a lady's mask.
04:20Let me share one more theory with you.
04:23Meet Howard Carter, the enthusiastic archaeologist who discovered Tutankhamen's tomb.
04:29It was located in the Valley of Kings outside Luxor, and, to everyone's surprise, was nearly intact.
04:36When he entered, he noticed something odd.
04:39This didn't feel like a pharaoh's burial chamber.
04:42It was classy and all, but it had a vibe that suggested it was made for a woman.
04:47Typically, Egyptian pharaohs had larger tombs that suited them better, and, even more strangely,
04:53it was oriented to the right of the entrance.
04:56This didn't add up.
04:58That orientation was typical for female chambers, which Egyptian queens used.
05:03Another red flag was that the chamber appeared to have been built in stages,
05:08and all the artifacts, around 2,000 of them, seemed hastily placed there.
05:13Even more curious, they looked like they were meant for other royals.
05:19Carter discovered this burial site in 1922, but it remained a mystery as to why it was so bizarre.
05:26Almost a century later, Nicholas Reeves thought he may have solved the puzzle.
05:31He claimed that King Tut might not have been the original resident of the tomb.
05:35Instead, he suggested that the undisturbed resting place of the legendary Queen Nefertiti
05:41could be hidden behind the walls of the boy king's burial chamber.
05:47Nicholas studied high-resolution photos for months, meticulously examining every pixel.
05:53One day, he focused on detailed scans that revealed the texture of the tomb's walls beneath layers of paint.
05:59He spotted what he believed to be outlines of two doorways that had been blocked and plastered over,
06:05to hide them from view.
06:07The more he looked, the more it seemed real.
06:10Could it be a tomb within a tomb?
06:13Nicholas theorized there was a hidden storeroom behind the western wall of King Tut's tomb,
06:18and his chamber might just be the outermost section of a larger, corridor-style network of rooms.
06:25It all sounds fancy, but sorry to break it to you, Reeves' theory was debunked.
06:30To find out if he was onto something, experts had to use ground-penetrating radar to see the unseen.
06:36Reeves' idea was that if there were gaps, it could indicate the presence of additional rooms.
06:42And at first, in 2015, one expert even thought he had found a hidden room.
06:48But the glory didn't last for long.
06:50A year later, after double-checking, it turned out there were no hidden doorways.
06:55By the way, Nefertiti isn't the only legendary woman from Egypt whose burial site remains a captivating mystery.
07:04There's a cool legend about Cleopatra that you might enjoy.
07:08It's said that she once declared,
07:11No man will ever find my tomb.
07:13Kind of fitting, right?
07:15After all, the person who's come closest to uncovering her final resting place is a woman.
07:21Fast forward a few millennia after she passed away,
07:25and while no man has located it,
07:27archaeologist Kathleen Martinez believes she might have cracked the code.
07:32She's been on the quest for Cleopatra VII's tomb for nearly 20 years
07:37and recently discovered a bust that she thinks represents the famous queen.
07:42However, not everyone is on board with her claim.
07:45Some experts argue that the bust doesn't resemble Cleopatra at all.
07:50Alongside this intriguing marble statue,
07:53Martinez's team also unearthed 337 coins,
07:57some of which, less controversially, feature Cleopatra's likeness.
08:01But the real part is that it's still not officially confirmed.
08:05There's no doubt about the existence of the small bust.
08:09It's carved from white marble,
08:11fits in one hand and shows a woman wearing a royal crown,
08:14according to a translated statement from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
08:19The big question, though, is who it actually depicts.
08:23While Martinez insists this statue is a representation of Queen Cleopatra VII,
08:29many other archaeologists argue that the facial features don't match,
08:33suggesting it likely belongs to a princess instead.
08:37Sorry, I can't resist the temptation of breaking the magic for a moment.
08:42Some folks believe that the whole idea of
08:44no man will find my tomb is misunderstood.
08:47Even if she did say it,
08:49what she probably meant was no living soul,
08:52and it wasn't about gender at all.
08:54It can as well be just a beautiful legend.
08:57Toodaloo!
08:59That's it for today.
09:01So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity,
09:03then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
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09:08and stay on the Bright Side!