Kathleen Martinez, an archaeologist at the University of Santo Domingo, has been searching for Cleopatra’s lost tomb for nearly 20 years. Now he believes he has made a breakthrough. Martinez and her team uncovered a 1,305-meter-long tunnel 13 meters (43 feet) underground, Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced recently — an architectural design expert called an “engineering marvel.” “The excavation revealed a huge religious center with three sanctuaries, a sacred lake, more than 1,500 artifacts, busts, statues, gold pieces, a huge collection of coins depicting Alexander the Great, Queen Cleopatra and the Ptolemies,” Martinez told the CNN. Kathleen Martinez has discovered a tunnel that may lead to the lost tomb. Credit: Kathleen Martinez-Nazar/Taposiris Magna Project “The most interesting discovery is the complex of tunnels leading to the Mediterranean Sea and the submerged structures,” he added. Exploring these underwater structures will be the next stage in her search for the lost tomb of the Egyptian queen – a journey that began in 2005. “My persistence cannot be confused with obsession. I admire Cleopatra as a historical figure. She became a victim of propaganda by the Romans, aimed at distorting her image,” Martinez said. “She was an educated woman, probably the first to be formally educated at the Alexandria Museum, the center of culture in her time,” according to Martinez, who said she admired Cleopatra as a student, linguist, mother and philosopher. When her husband, the Roman general Mark Antony, died in her arms in 30 BC, Cleopatra killed herself soon after, allowing a shield to bite her, according to popular belief. The moment has been immortalized in art and literature — but, more than two millennia later, little is known about the whereabouts of their remains. Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra and Richard Burton as Mark Antony. Created by: Twentieth Century Fox A series of clues led Martinez to believe that Cleopatra’s tomb may be located in the Temple of Osiris in the ruined city of Taposiris Magna, on the northern coast of Egypt, where the Nile River meets the Mediterranean. Chief among them was the name itself. According to Martinez, Cleopatra was seen in her day as “the human incarnation of the goddess Isis”, just as Antony was seen as that of the god Orisas, husband of Isis. Martinez believes that Cleopatra may have chosen to bury her husband in the temple to reflect this myth. Of the 20 temples around Alexandria he has studied, Martinez said, “no other place, structure or temple combines as many conditions as the temple of Taposiris Magna.”
Excavations so far have uncovered more than 1,500 ancient artifacts. Credit: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism In 2004, Martinez took her theory to Zahi Hawass, an Egyptian archaeologist who was then Egypt’s minister of antiquities. Her project was approved a year later. And after years of searching, Martinez feels she’s getting closer. Excavations so far have revealed that “the temple was dedicated to Isis” – which Martinez believes is another sign that the lost tomb is nearby – as well as tunnels under the sea. The search for the lost tomb has taken Martinez under the Mediterranean Sea. Created by Kathleen Martinez-Nazar/Taposiris Walk Project Now, Martinez said, she is at the “beginning of a new journey” — underwater excavation. According to a statement from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the Egyptian coastline has been hit by earthquakes over the centuries, causing parts of Tamposiris Magna to collapse and sink beneath the waves. That’s where Martinez and her team are looking next. Although it is “too early to know where these tunnels lead,” she is optimistic. If the tunnels lead to Cleopatra, “it will be the most important discovery of the century,” he said.