Experts believe they have found two undiscovered chambers lying behind the west and north walls of King Tut’s tomb, Egypt’s antiquities minister announced Thursday.
Minister Mamdouh El Damati said a team of Japanese experts analyzed scans of the walls, and are 90% sure that two chambers containing organic and metal material lie behind Tutankhamun’s burial chamber, USA Today reports.
El Damati said the spaces may be another burial chamber. Archaeologist Nicholas Reeves published a paper last year suggesting that Nefertiti, generally accepted as Tut’s mother, could be buried behind the tomb’s north wall.
“It could be the discovery of the century,” El Damati said. “It is very important for Egyptian history and for all of the world.”
Experts will scan the walls of the tomb again at the end of the month to investigate further what lies beyond Tut’s burial chamber. Egypt had announced the possibility of a secret chamber in November. Archaeologist Howard Carter uncovered the famed tomb in 1922.
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Write to Julia Zorthian at julia.zorthian@time.com