Field work: Cleopatra - still looking

Heritage News (Sean Williams)

With video interview (3 minutes 28 seconds) with Kathleen Martinez who explains the background to her involvement showing some great shots of Taposiris Magna and some of the artefacts found. She also explains her reasoning for thinking that there is a royal tomb at the site and the contribution of the research carried out at the site so far.

Almost two months in the project seemed doomed to failure. But just as things were coming to a close, Martinez' team hit gold. Tunnels were found, which would eventually reach a depth of 35m. They're still being cleaned today, after Dr Hawass granted Martinez another season to prove her claim. To date the team's biggest find has been a cemetery outside the temple, "which is the proof that in this area there is a royal tomb," Martinez says excitedly.

Martinez feels a sense of responsibility for finding Cleopatra, an ancient character long draped in romance and legend. "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." So far the team has unearthed a huge number of Greco-Roman artefacts, including coins with Cleopatra's head on them. Dr Hawass has already hailed the dig as a success, whatever its outcome: "If we discover the tomb...it will be the most important discovery of the 21st century. If we do not discover the tomb...we made major discoveries here, inside the temple and outside the temple."

Dominican Today

There's nothing new in this somehwat less than coherent article, which confirms that although the search for Cleopatra is still on there's nothing more to say on the subject of the presence or absence of Cleopatra at the site.

Whereas Martinez, an attorney-turned-archaeologist who’s proud to proclaim that her work is part of a larger effort by a Dominican-Egyptian team, noted that she convinced the Supreme Council of Antiquities to let her look for Ptolemy’s Temple, near Alexandria, where she’s convinced she’ll come across one of Egypt’s most enduring secrets. “I know inside that I’m close to finding Cleopatra’s tomb.”

She said with Hawas’ support, she has found the largest mummy tomb uncovered so far and among the important sites found, she noted that of the Taposisirs Magna, or the temple of Osiris, and Isis, determined from the gathered evidence in Greek script, which she said reveal the link to Ptolemy.