Valley of the Kings

Some of the tombs have been open for thousands of years and were a tourist attraction for visiting Greeks even before the time of Christ. Records and systematic exploration really began in the 19th century. In the 1820s, James Gardner Wilkinson produced a ground-breaking map of the Valley of the Kings, showing most the known tombs. There were some discrepancies compared to the work of other Egyptologists working in the Valley of the Kings but it was sufficiently accurate to become the basis of the numbering system used today with tombs numbered from KV1 (Ramses VII) through to KV62 (Tutankhamun) and the latest tomb, KV63, found in 2006.

In contrast to the 63 tombs we number today (with a couple of pits which aren't important enough to form part of the numbering system), Wilkinson identified and numbered 21 tombs in the main Valley of the Kings, and 4 more in the Western. He also knew of one more tomb of, known today as KV29, but for some reason didn't number it. Actually, tomb KV29 remains something of an enigma even today. It's an inaccessible pit and it's layout and contents are unknown. It's probable that the tomb was entered by Arthur Weigall at the start of the 20th century and is believed to be a small tomb with a single, undecorated chamber. Not all tombs in the Valley of the Kings were for kings, queens or princes/princesses. Some tombs were intended for nobles who were either related to the royal family, or who had held high office. KV29 is probably a tomb like that for a noble, or nobles.

After Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun's tomb KV62 in 1922, everybody believed that the Valley of the Kings had surrendered its last secret.

For 50 years, the valley was quiet. Then in 1976, a team from a>. The limestone has many faults and fissures, so the results are tentative at best, but the team believed that they may have detected an unknown manmade feature and proved the remote sensing techniques may be the future of exploration in the Valley of the Kings.

In 1986, Dr Kent Weeks and the Theban Mapping Project also did some radar work in the Valley of the Kings but the results have not been published (so far as I know). The breakthrough came in 2000 when Dr Nicholas Reeves and the Amarna Royal Tombs project undertook a ground penetrating radar survey of their concession, an area at the centre of the main Valley of the Kings by KV62. This detected a number of anomalies, two at least of which Nicholas Reeves suspected to be unknown tombs.

One of these anomalies was dug by a team led by Dr Otto Schaden, without knowing of the ARTP radar results. In 2005, they found a new shaft which was announced to the world as tomb KV63 in 2006. We now know that it was never used as a tomb but was probably an embalmers workshop. However, the finds have included a wooden embalming bed, now on display in Luxor's Mummification Museum.

The second of the ARTP radar anomalies has been dubbed KV64. It is unclear whether it was investigated during 2009 excavations in the Valley of the Kings.

During 2008/9, Dr Zahi Hawass has led very extensive excavations in the Valley of the Kings and tentatively announced that he had found two new tombs - Ramses VIII and an unknown queen. These finds have not been verified and it is unclear whether the tombs were indeed found and opened. Dr Hawass has undertaken a much more detailed radar survey of the main Valley of the Kings and, for the first time,. the less well explored Western Valley. The results have not been published but there are reports of a possible tomb being found under the rest house by Tutankhamun's tomb.

Tomb KV57 - Horemheb

Horemheb was the last pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty. His tomb, today designated KV57, was discovered in 1908 by a relatively unknown young British Egyptologist, Edward Ayrton.

The photographs of KV57 are copyright to dalbera and were issued under a Creative Commons 2.0 license.

Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun

The most famous tomb in the Valley of the Kings, perhaps in the world, was discovered on 4th November 1922 by a water boy working for Howard Carter. KV62 is the only substantialy intact royal tomb found in the Valley of the Kings and is the burial place of King Tutankhamun whose mummy, out of respect, still lies in the tomb. Although Tutankhamun died very young, perhaps as a teenager of 19, the treasures his tomb were still substantial and suggests that the contents of bigger tombs like those of Ramses the Great or Seti I must have been mind-blowingly spectacular.

If you wish to visit the tomb of Tutankhamun, don't delay. The Egyptian authorities have started work on a replica and plan to close the real tomb. Visiting the tomb requires a separate ticket, so make sure you buy one while you are ar the ticket office if you wish to visit KV62.

The image shows King Tutankhamun and Queen Ankhesenamun on the back of the golden throne, one of the many treasure found in the tomb. Most of the treasures from the tomb are on display in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, but many items have been on tour worldwide during 2007-9. A small number of relatively minor items are also part of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

Photograph © Kate Phizackerley, 2003 under a creative commons attribution sharealike license on the terms set out here on my site

If you have any extra information or questions about this lens you can contact Kate Phizackerley, the lensmistress, using the contact form I have provided.

Subscribe to RSS

You can also follow Kate Phizackerley's business blogs on Twitter or subscribe to an RSS newsfeed of her recent Squidoo updates.

Subscribe to RSS

Kate has written many Squidoo lenses. Please visit her full lensography, sample Kate's top lenses, or read her Squidoo Diary to keep up to date with her recent publications.

And if you would like to know more about Kate then please visit her personal lens on Squidoo or Kate's main personal hub and web site. You may also enjoy her blogs News From the Valley of the Kings, Kate Phizackerley on Business" or PT Phiz.

I'd like to thank a some developers whose icons I feature on this lens: Dry Icons for the Portfolio icon; Gopal Raju for the Twitter Bird; Icons-Land for Sweet Angel; Maja Benic for the Contact & Home icons.