Eight museum employees are facing disciplinary charges for damaging King Tutankhamun's mask that left scratches on the 3,300-year-old artifact. Prosecutors said in a statement on Sunday that they will also persecute the former head of the Egyptian Museum and the Restoration Department for failing to properly repair the pharaoh's mask back in 2014, per the Associated Press.

"In an attempt to cover up the damage they inflicted, they used sharp instruments such as scalpels and metal tools to remove traces of adhesive on the mask, causing damage and scratches that remain," the statement said.

The beard on King Tutankhamun's mask was damaged two years ago and was repaired using epoxy. When it dried up, one of the museum employees used a spatula to remove the excess epoxy around the damaged area, causing scratches to arguably one of the most important objects from ancient Egypt.

The mask was recently repaired by a team of restoration specialists from Germany and Egypt by removing the dried epoxy and using beeswax to reattach the beard. According to Antiques World, natural beeswax is the best way to preserve artifacts and is mainly used as adhesives in very old objects.

In a report by The Telegraph, King Tutankhamun was making headlines towards the end of the year after a British Egyptologist at the University of Arizona, Nicholas Reeves, proclaimed that Queen Nefertiti's tomb was behind the 19-year-old king's tomb. He theorized that there are two passages in King Tutankhamun's tomb that lead to a store room and Queen Nefertiti's burial place.

He has based his theory on several high-resolution images of the interior of the pharaoh's tomb, saying that the two secret rooms are seen through cracks and crevices. However, former Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Zahi Hawass said that Reeves' theory was unjustifiable.

"Mr. Reeves sold the air to us. I confirm that there is nothing at all behind the wall. He succeeded in saying something exciting. The tomb of Nefertiti is inside the tomb of Tutankhamun, but his theory is baseless," Hawass said.

"I will not allow neither would any archeologist allow making a hole in Tutankhamun's tomb. The tomb is very vulnerable. Any hole may expose the paintings to complete collapse," he added.

The Associated Press noted that King Tutankhamun's mask was discovered by several British archeologists in 1922 inside a tomb. The finding of the mask and other artifacts created the interest of the world to archeology and ancient Egypt. It is displayed inside Cairo's Egyptian Museum that attracts tourist from all over the world.