An archeologist from the University of Santo Domingo believes she may have found the entranceway to the lost tomb of Cleopatra after two decades of searching in Egypt.
Kathleen Martinez and her team recently discovered a 4,281 foot tunnel around 40 feet below ground level, the Egyptian Ministry for Tourism and Antiquities announced recently.
Martinez believes the tunnel may lead to the tomb of Cleopatra, CNN reported.
The location of the tomb of the Egyptian queen, who was recently portrayed on the big screen by Israeli actress Gal Gadot, has long been a mystery.
"The excavation revealed a huge religious center with three sanctuaries, a sacred lake, more than 1,500 objects, busts, statues, golden pieces, a huge collection of coins portraying Alexander the Great, Queen Cleopatra and the Ptolemies," Martinez told CNN. "The most interesting discovery is the complex of tunnels leading to the Mediterranean Sea and sunken structures.”
She began searching for Cleopatra’s tomb in 2005.
"My perseverance cannot be confused with obsession. I admire Cleopatra as a historical character. She was a victim of propaganda by the Romans, aiming to distort her image," said Martinez who described her as "an educated woman, probably the first one who studied formally at the Museum in Alexandria, the center of culture in her time.”
If the tunnels discovered by Martinez and her team contain a passageway to Cleopatra’s tomb, "it will be the most important discovery of the century," the archeologist said.