An archaeologist on a mission to locate the elusive tomb of Cleopatra VII claims to have “found” the ancient Queen’s final resting place.
Kathleen Martinez, who has been on the hunt for the tomb for nearly two decades, thinks she has unearthed a statue that could portray the face of the queen who reigned from 51 to 30 BC.
The white marble statue, consisting only of a head, bears the resemblance of a woman with a petite nose, full lips and hair braided around the head.
Alongside this, Martinez and her team discovered 337 coins bearing Cleopatra’s image, as well as a variety of pottery, oil lamps, figurines and other artefacts at the Temple of Taposiris Magna.
Martinez has long held the belief that the queen’s tomb is concealed somewhere within the temple’s ruins, which are situated above a 4,281-foot-long tunnel 43 feet underground.
She theorises that Cleopatra’s body was transported from the palace through the tunnel and interred at a secret location. However, some archaeologists have claimed the statue represents another royal woman.
Critics of Martinez have also criticised her theory about the queen’s burial, asserting that Cleopatra was entombed in the city of Alexandria, not 25 miles outside of it. This is yet 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 declared that the recent discoveries at Taposiris Magna are pivotal in enhancing scholars’ comprehension of the architectural, cultural, and ceremonial customs of the era.
Alongside the potential statue of Cleopatra, Martinez and her team also discovered a limestone bust of a king, embellished with the Nemes – the traditional headgear of the pharaohs.
This excavation was led by Martinez, who collaborated with a team of Egyptian and Dominican archaeologists from the National University Pedro Henríquez Ureña.
According to an official statement, the researchers unearthed foundation deposits beneath the southern wall of the temple’s outer enclosure. While the female statue is considered the most significant find, some experts have cast doubt on whether it truly represents Cleopatra, as Martinez suggests.
Some have highlighted discrepancies in facial features between the statue and the ancient Queen, proposing that it may instead portray a princess. However, this isn’t the only artifact bearing a likeness to Cleopatra. Martinez and her team also uncovered over 300 coins, many adorned with her image.
Other remarkable finds include a scarab-shaped amulet inscribed with ‘The justice of Ra has shone,’ a bronze ring dedicated to the goddess Hathor, and ancient burial sites. The researchers found a large cemetery comprising 20 burial chambers, and a tomb with three chambers beneath the Taposiris Magna lighthouse.
In 2022, Martinez unearthed a tunnel bearing striking similarities to the renowned Tunnel of Eupalinos on the Greek island of Samos, celebrated as one of the most significant engineering feats of the Classical era.
Speaking to Heritage Key in 2022, Martinez said: “If there’s a one per 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 archaeologist has found tunnels, passages underground [and] inside the enclosure walls of the temple, so we have changed forever what they know about the architecture.”
Martinez theorises that following Mark Antony’s suicide after his defeat by Caesar Augustus, also known as Octavian, Cleopatra meticulously planned for their joint interment at this site, echoing the legendary tale.
The expedition also uncovered the remnants of a Greek temple from the fourth century BC, which was demolished between the second century BC and the dawn of the AD period. This temple is linked to an intricate network of subterranean tunnels extending from Lake Mariout to the Mediterranean Sea.
Examination of pottery shards retrieved during the excavation also verified that the construction of the Taposiris Magna temple can be traced back to the 1st century BC.
The name of the temple, “great tomb of Osiris,” implies it was dedicated to the god Osiris and his queen – the goddess Isis – whom Cleopatra was thought to be a reincarnation of.
Today, Taposiris Magna lies in ruins due to the Egyptian coastline being ravaged by earthquakes over the centuries, leading to parts of the temple collapsing and sinking into the sea.
The site has undergone multiple excavations, with the inaugural dig initiated by Napoleon in the early 19th century. Martinez commenced her investigation of the site in 2005, holding the belief that Cleopatra may have been interred there following her suicide in 30 BC.
She claims Cleopatra’s demise was a ceremonial act – part of a ritual apotheosis, or the shedding of her mortal body to ascend to the status of a goddess. If this were the case, she would have been entombed in a temple, most likely a temple dedicated to Iris.
Over the past two decades, Martinez has unearthed numerous findings that enhance experts’ comprehension of the Ptolemaic era, including skeletal remains, but the ancient queen’s tomb continues to elude her.
