Over the past two decades a criminal lawyer turned archaeologist from the Dominican Republic has dedicated herself to answering one of the ancient world’s greatest mysteries: where is Queen Cleopatra’s tomb? Now, Kathleen Martínez claims she is closing in on the target with the discovery of a sunken port off the coast off Borg El Arab, 30 miles west of Alexandria, the final capital of the Ptolemaic dynasty.

The modern city stands on the ruins of Taposiris Magna, much of which was destroyed by earthquakes and tsunamis over the centuries with the historic quarter today submerged beneath the Mediterranean Sea. Contrary to archaeological orthodoxy, Martínez has long held that Taposiris Magna rather than Alexandria is the site of Cleopatra’s resting place.

The team uses the scan data to create a detailed model, trying to piece together what the site might have looked like during Cleopatraís lifetime. Photo: National Geographic.

The crux rests with unravelling the queen’s actions in the wake of Battle of Actium in 31 B.C.E., when her ally and lover Mark Antony was defeated by the Roman ruler Octavian. With submission to Rome looming, Martínez believes Cleopatra chose to be buried in a place her enemy would not think to search. Key to her thinking was the assertion of the Roman historian Plutarch that Cleopatra had built a tomb close to a temple of Isis, the ancient Egyptian goddess of healing and death with whom the queen cultivated strong connections. With the potential temple sites in Alexandria exhausted, Taposiris Magna seemed a logical alternative. This notion is bolstered by the discovery of the port, which shows it was both a religious center and a maritime hub.

“That makes the temple really important,” Martínez said in a statement ahead of the release of the documentary Cleopatra’s Final Secret for National Geographic. “It had all the conditions to be chosen for Cleopatra to be buried with Mark Antony.”

Kathleen Martinez looks out onto the water during the underwater survey portion of her search for Cleopatra. Photo: Kenneth Garrett.

In 2005, Martínez convinced Egyptian authorities to collaborate on excavations at Taposiris Magna and in the following years teams of local and Dominican archeologists uncovered a foundation plate showing that a temple had indeed been dedicated to Isis. The temple has uncovered hundreds of human remains, pottery dated to Cleopatra’s reign (51 B.C.E. to 30 B.C.E.), and coins bearing her image. Some of the burials were found with their faces pointed towards the temple, a sign, researchers said, that royalty was interred at the site.

In 2022, a 4,300-foot-long tunnel was discovered beneath the temple that ran out towards the sea. Martínez’s latest foray has explored the submerged areas surrounding this tunnel. To do so, she teamed up with Bob Ballard, an oceanographer who discovering the wreck of the RMS Titanic in 1985.

Members of the dive team move away sand from a polished floor which they believe is an ancient port, lost to the sea at Taposiris Magna. Photo: National Geographic.

Using sonar—and some help from the Egyptian navy—the researchers created a map of the seafloor that revealed a series of large constructions, some reaching more than 20 feet in height. Divers were then sent down and discovered polished floors, cement blocks, anchors, and amphora that has since been dated to the time of Cleopatra. Such evidence demonstrates Taposiris Magna was far larger and more important than previously believed. It also extends Martínez’s thinking that Cleopatra’s body was brought to the city, carried through the tunnel and laid to rest.

One of the anchors in the sunken ancient port at Taposiris Magna. Photo: National Geographic.

One potential site has already been identified. It’s been called “Salam 5.” It formed out of tall, flat, rectangular structures and bears broken statues that resemble those previously found at the Taposiris Magna temple. Further underwater excavations are planned for later this year.

“I’m not going to stop,” Martínez said. “For me, it’s a matter of time.”