A flamboyant archaeologist known worldwide for his trademark Indiana Jones hat believes he has identified the site where Cleopatra is buried.
Now, with a team of 12 archaeologists and 70 excavators, Zahi Hawass, 60, the head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, has begun the search for her tomb.
In addition, after a breakthrough two weeks ago, Hawass hopes to find Cleopatra's lover, the Roman general Mark Antony, sharing her last resting place at the site of a temple, the Taposiris Magna, 28 miles west of Alexandria.
Hawass has discovered a 400-foot tunnel beneath the temple containing clues that the supposedly beautiful queen may lie beneath.
“We’ve found tunnels with statues of Cleopatra and many coins bearing her face, things you wouldn’t expect in a typical temple,” he said.
More than two weeks ago Hawass’s team discovered a bust of Mark Antony, the Roman general who became Cleopatra’s "boyfriend" and had three children with her before their ambitions for an Egyptian empire brought them into conflict with Rome.
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