Valley of the Kings

The Valley of the Kings (Arabic: وادي الملوك Wādī al-Mulūk; Coptic: ϫⲏⲙⲉ, romanised: džēme Late Coptic: [ˈʃɪ.mæ]), also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings (Arabic: وادي أبواب الملوك Wādī Abwāb al-Mulūk), is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC, rock-cut tombs were excavated for the pharaohs and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom (the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Dynasties of Ancient Egypt).

The Valley stands on the west bank of the Nile opposite Thebes (modern Luxor), within the heart of the Theban Necropolis. The wadi consists of two valleys: the East Valley (where most royal tombs are situated) and the West Valley (Valley of the Monkeys).

With the 2005 discovery of a new chamber and the 2008 discovery of two further tomb entrances, the Valley is known to contain 63 tombs and chambers (ranging in size from KV54, a simple pit, to KV5, a complex tomb with over 120 chambers). It was the principal burial place of the prominent Egyptian New Kingdom royal figures and several privileged nobles. The royal tombs are decorated with scenes from Egyptian mythology and give clues as to the beliefs and funerary practices of the period. Almost all of the tombs seem to have been opened and robbed in antiquity, but they still give an idea of the luxury and power of the pharaohs.

This area has been a focus of archaeological and Egyptological exploration since the end of the eighteenth century, and its tombs and burials continue to stimulate research and interest. Since the 1920s, the Valley has been famous for discovering the tomb of Tutankhamun and is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world. In 1979, it became a World Heritage Site along with the rest of the Theban Necropolis. Exploration, excavation and conservation continue in the Valley, and a new tourist centre has recently been opened.

Location of the Valley of the Kings

The Valley of the Kings lies in the western desert of Luxor, Theban Necropolis – Egypt.

Geology

The Valley of the Kings is situated over 1,000 feet of limestone and other sedimentary rock, which form the cliffs in the Valley and the nearby Deir el-Bahari, interspersed with soft layers of marl. The sedimentary rock was deposited initially between 35 and 56 million years ago when the Mediterranean Sea sometimes extended as far south as Aswan. During the Pleistocene, steady rains carved the Valley out of the plateau. There is currently little year-round rain in this part of Egypt, but occasional flash floods hit the Valley. These floods dump tons of debris into the open tombs.

The quality of the rock in the Valley is inconsistent, ranging from finely-grained to coarse stone, the latter with the potential to be structurally unsound. The occasional layer of shale also caused construction (and, in modern times, conservation) difficulties, as this rock expands in the presence of water, forcing the stone surrounding it apart. It is thought that some tombs were altered in shape and size depending on the types of rock the builders encountered. Builders took advantage of available geological features when constructing the tombs. Some tombs were quarried out of existing limestone clefts, others behind scree slopes, and some were at the edge of rock spurs created by ancient flood channels.

The problems of tomb construction can be seen in the tombs of Ramesses III and his father, Setnakhte. Setnakhte started excavating KV11 but broke into the tomb of Amenmesse, so the building was abandoned, and he usurped the tomb of Twosret, KV14. Ramesses III extended the partly excavated tomb started by his father when looking for a burial. The tomb of Ramesses II returned to an early style, with a bent axis, probably due to the quality of the rock being excavated (following the Esna shale).

Between 1998 and 2002, the Amarna Royal Tombs Project investigated the valley floor using ground-penetrating radar and found that, below the modern surface, the Valley’s cliffs descend beneath the scree in a series of abrupt, natural “shelves”, arranged one below the other, dropping several metres down to the bedrock in the valley floor.

Hydrology

The area of the Theban hills is subject to infrequent, violent thunderstorms causing flash floods in the Valley. Recent studies have shown at least seven active flood stream beds leading down into the central area of the Valley. This main area appears to have been flooded at the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty, with several tombs buried under metres of debris. The tombs KV55, KV62, and KV63 are dug into the actual wadi bedrock rather than the debris, showing that the level of the Valley was five meters below its present level. After this event, later dynasties levelled the floor of the Valley, making the floods deposit their load further down the Valley. The buried tombs were forgotten and only discovered in the early 20th century. This area was the subject of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project ground-scanning radar investigation, which showed several anomalies, one of which was KV63.

History

The Theban Hills are dominated by the peak of al-Qurn, known to the Ancient Egyptians as ta dehent, or “The Peak”. It has a pyramid-shaped appearance, which probably echoed the Old Kingdom’s pyramids, more than a thousand years before the first royal burials were carved here. Its isolated position also resulted in reduced access, and special tomb police (the Medjay) were able to guard the necropolis.

While the iconic pyramid complex of the Giza Plateau has come to symbolise ancient Egypt, most tombs were cut into the rock. Most pyramids and mastabas contain sections cut into the ground level, and there are full rock-cut tombs in Egypt that date back to the Old Kingdom.

After the Hyksos’ defeat and Egypt’s reunification under Ahmose I, the Theban rulers began constructing elaborate tombs that reflected their newfound power. The first royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings were those of Amenhotep I (although this identification is also disputed) and Thutmose I, whose advisor, Ineni, notes in his tomb that he advised the King to place his grave in the desolate Valley (the identity of this actual tomb is unclear, but it is probably KV20 or KV38). The tombs of Ahmose, his son Amenhotep I (their exact location remains unknown), and I was perhaps in the Seventeenth Dynasty necropolis of Dra’ Abu el-Naga’.

I saw to the excavation of the rock tomb of his majesty alone; no one sees, no one hearing.

The Valley was used for primary burials from 1539 BC to 1075 BC. It contains at least 63 tombs, beginning with Thutmose I (or possibly earlier, during the reign of Amenhotep I) and ending with Ramesses X or XI. However, non-royal burials continued in usurped tombs.

Despite its name, the Valley of the Kings also contains the tombs of favourite nobles and the wives and children of nobles and pharaohs. Therefore, only about twenty of the tombs have the remains of kings. The remains of nobles and the royal family, with unmarked pits and embalming caches, make up the rest. Around Ramesses I (ca. 1301 BC), construction commenced in the separate Valley of the Queens.

Royal Necropolis

The official name for the site in ancient times was The Great and Majestic Necropolis of the Millions of Years of the Pharaoh, Life, Strength, Health in The West of Thebes (see below for the hieroglyphic spelling), or Ta-Sekhet-ma’at (the Great Field).

At the start of the Eighteenth Dynasty, only kings were buried within the Valley in large tombs. When a non-royal person was buried, it was in a small rock-cut chamber close to the grave of their master. Amenhotep III’s tomb was constructed in the Western Valley. While his son Akhenaten moved his tomb’s construction to Amarna, it is thought that the unfinished WV25 may have originally been intended for him and with the return to religious orthodoxy at the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty, Tutankhamun, Ay, and Horemheb returned to the royal cemetery.

The Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties saw an increase in the number of burials (both here and in the Valley of the Queens), with Ramesses II and later Ramesses III each constructing a massive tomb used for the burial of their sons (KV5 and KV3, respectively). Some kings are not buried within the Valley or whose tomb has not been located: Thutmose II may have been buried in Dra’ Abu el-Naga’ (although his mummy was in the Deir el-Bahari tomb cache), Smenkhkare’s burial has never been located, and Ramesses VIII seems to have been buried elsewhere.

In the Pyramid Age, the pyramid tomb of a king was associated with a mortuary temple close to the pyramid. Since the tombs of the kings in the Valley of the Kings were hidden, the kings’ mortuary temples were located away from their burial sites, closer to the cultivation facing Thebes. These mortuary temples were visited during the various festivals in the Theban necropolis. Most notable is the Beautiful festival of the Valley, where the sacred barques of Amun-Re, his consort, Mut, and son, Khonsu, left the temple at Karnak to visit the funerary temples of deceased kings on the West Bank and their shrines in the Theban Necropolis.

The tombs were constructed and decorated by the workers of the village of Deir el-Medina, located in a small wadi between this Valley and the Valley of the Queens, facing Thebes. The workers journeyed to the tombs through various routes over the Theban hills. The daily lives of these workers are pretty well known due to their being recorded in tombs and official documents. The first registered workers’ strike, detailed in the Turin Strike Papyrus, is among the documented events.

Exploration of the Valley of the Kings

The Valley has been a significant focus of modern Egyptological exploration for the last two centuries. Before this time, it was a site for tourism in antiquity (especially during Roman times). The area illustrates the changes in the study of ancient Egypt, starting with antiquity hunting and ending with the scientific excavation of the whole Theban Necropolis. Despite the exploration and investigation noted below, only eleven of the tombs have been entirely recorded.

Many of the tombs have graffiti written by those ancient tourists. Jules Baillet has located over 2,100 Greek and Latin instances of graffiti, along with a smaller number in Phoenician, Cypriot, Lycian, Coptic, and other languages. Most ancient graffiti is found in KV9, containing just under a thousand. The earliest positively dated graffiti dates to 278 BC.

In 1799, members of Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt (especially Vivant Denon) drew maps and plans of the known tombs and, for the first time, noted the Western Valley (where Prosper Jollois and Édouard de Villiers du Terrage located the tomb of Amenhotep III, WV22). The Description de l’Égypte contains two volumes (out of 24) around Thebes.

European exploration continued in the area around Thebes during the nineteenth century. Early in the century, the site was visited by Giovanni Belzoni, working for Henry Salt. He discovered several tombs, including Ay’s in the West Valley (WV23) in 1816 and Seti I (KV17) the following year. At the end of his visits, Belzoni declared that all the tombs had been located, and nothing of note remained.

Working at the same time was Bernardino Drovetti, the French Consul-General and a great rival of Belzoni and Salt. John Gardner Wilkinson, who lived in Egypt from 1821 to 1832, copied many inscriptions and artwork in the open tombs. The decipherment of hieroglyphs, though still incomplete during Wilkinson’s stay in the Valley, enabled him to assemble a chronology of New Kingdom rulers based on the inscriptions in the tombs. He also established the system of tomb numbering that has been in use, with additions, ever since.

The second half of the century saw a more concerted effort to preserve antiquities rather than gather them. Auguste Mariette’s Egyptian Antiquities Service started to explore the Valley, first with Eugène Lefébure in 1883, then Jules Baillet and Georges Bénédite in early 1888, and finally Victor Loret from 1898 to 1899. Loret added 16 tombs to the list and explored several previously discovered tombs. During this time, Georges Daressy studied KV9.

When Gaston Maspero was reappointed as head of the Egyptian Antiquities Service, the nature of the exploration of the Valley changed again. Maspero appointed English archaeologist Howard Carter as the Chief Inspector of Upper Egypt, and the young man discovered several new tombs and explored several others, clearing KV42 and KV20.

Around the start of the 20th century, American explorer Theodore M. Davis had the excavation permit for the Valley. His team (led mainly by Edward R. Ayrton) discovered several royal and non-royal tombs (including KV43, KV46 and KV57). In 1907, they discovered the possible Amarna Period cache in KV55. After finding what they thought was all that remained of the burial of Tutankhamun (items recovered from KV54 and KV58), it was announced that the Valley was wholly explored and that no further burials were to be found. Davis’s 1912 publication, The Tombs of Harmhabi and Touatânkhamanou, closes with the comment, “I fear that the Valley of Kings is now exhausted.”

After Davis’s death early in 1915, Lord Carnarvon acquired the concession to excavate the Valley and employed Howard Carter to explore it. After a systematic search, they discovered the actual tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62) in November 1922.

Various expeditions have continued to explore the Valley, significantly adding to the area’s knowledge. In 2001, the Theban Mapping Project designed new signs for the tombs, providing information and plans for the open tombs.

Deir El Bahari Treasury

In 1871, in the Valley of the Kings, Howard Carter found a walled-up entrance at the foot of a stone slope in Deir el-Bahri, located directly opposite Thebes, on the western bank of the Nile River. The two brothers who discovered the entrance broke into it and began excavating. Having reached a depth of about 13 meters, they found a vast corridor that stretched for 70 meters and led into the depths of the cliff. All along the corridor were large boxes containing mummies and many burial utensils.

These two brothers tried to sell all the burial contents. After the Egyptian police services caught them in 1881, they went down with the police to the tomb. There, they found a large number of caskets in which the kings rested. The Sarcophagi spread all the way and lay on the floor. Many were leaning against the walls, the coffins were giant, and their weight was terrific. The ancient Egyptians plated them with gold and polished them with a high shine. In the very depths of the cache, archaeologists discovered mummies of pharaohs Amenhotep I, Ahmose I, Thutmose and many others. In total, archaeologists found 37 sarcophagi with perfectly preserved mummies of the kings.

Tomb development

Location

The earliest tombs were cliffs at the top of scree slopes, under storm-fed waterfalls (KV34 and KV43). As these locations were filled, burials descended to the valley floor, gradually moving back up the slopes as the valley bottom filled with debris. This explains the site of the tombs KV62 and KV63 buried in the valley floor.

Architecture

The usual tomb plan consisted of a long inclined rock-cut corridor, descending through one or more halls (possibly mirroring the descending path of the sun god into the underworld) to the burial chamber. In the earlier tombs, the corridors turn 90 degrees at least once (such as KV43, the tomb of Thutmose IV), and the earliest ones had cartouche-shaped burial chambers (for example, KV43, the tomb of Thutmose IV). This layout is known as the “Bent Axis” After the burial, the upper corridors were meant to be filled with rubble, and the entrance to the tomb was hidden.

After the Amarna Period, the layout gradually straightened, with an intermediate “Jogged Axis” (the tomb of Horemheb, KV57 is typical of this layout and is one of the tombs that is sometimes open to the public), to the generally “Straight Axis” of the late Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties tombs (Ramesses III’s and Ramesses IX’s tombs, KV11 and KV6 respectively). As the tombs’ axes straightened, the slopes also lessened. They almost disappeared in the late Twentieth Dynasty. Another common feature of most tombs is the “well”, which may have originated as a barrier intended to stop flood waters from entering the lower parts of the burial. Later, it seems to have developed a “magical” purpose as a symbolic shaft. The well was sometimes not excavated in the later Twentieth Dynasty, but the well-room was still present.

Decoration

The majority of the royal tombs were decorated with religious texts and images. The early tombs were decorated with scenes from Amduat (‘That Which is in the Underworld), which describes the sun god’s journey through the twelve hours of the night. From the time of Horemheb, tombs were decorated with the Book of Gates, which shows the sun god passing through the twelve gates that divide the nighttime and ensure the tomb owner’s safe passage through the night. These earliest tombs were generally sparsely decorated, and those of a non-royal nature were undecorated.

Late in the Nineteenth Dynasty, the Book of Caverns, which divided the underworld into massive caverns containing deities and the deceased waiting for the sun to pass through and restore them to life, was placed in the upper parts of tombs. A complete version appears in the tomb of Ramesses VI. The burial of Ramesses III saw the Book of the Earth, where the underworld is divided into four sections, climaxing in the sun disc being pulled from the Earth by Naunet.

The ceilings of the burial chambers were decorated (from the burial of Seti I onwards) with what became formalised as the Book of the Heavens, which again describes the sun’s journey through the twelve hours of the night. Again, from Seti I’s time, the Litany of Re, a lengthy hymn to the sun god, began to appear.

Tomb equipment

Each burial was provided with equipment that would enable a comfortable existence in the afterlife. The King may have used some items during his lifetime (Tutankhamun’s sandals, for example), and some were specially constructed for burial. Also present in the tombs were items used to perform magic rituals, such as shabtis and religious figurines.

Tomb numbering

The modern abbreviation “KV” stands for “Kings’ Valley”. In 1827, Wilkinson painted KV numbers over the entrances to the 21 tombs that lay open in the East Valley, then, beginning at the valley entrance and moving southward, labelled four tombs in the West Valley as WV1 through WV4. The tombs in the West Valley were later incorporated into the East Valley numbering system as WV22 through WV25, and tombs that have been opened since Wilkinson’s time have been added to the list. The numbers range from KV1 (Rameses VII) to KV64 (discovered in 2012).

Since the early 19th century AD, antiquarians and archaeologists have cleared and recorded tombs, with 61 burials being known by the start of the 20th century. KV5 was only rediscovered in the 1990s after being dismissed as unimportant by previous investigators. Some tombs are unoccupied, others remain unidentifiable regarding their owners, and others are merely pits used for storage. Most open burials in the Valley of the Kings are located in the East, where most tourist facilities are.

Eighteenth Dynasty Tombs

The Eighteenth Dynasty tombs within the Valley vary greatly in decoration, style, and location. It seems that, at first, there was no fixed plan. The tombs gradually became more regular and formalised. Those of Thutmose III and Thutmose IV, KV34 and KV43 are good examples of Eighteenth Dynasty tombs, with their bent axis and simple decoration. The tomb of Hatshepsut has a unique shape, twisting and turning down over 200 metres from the entrance so that the burial chamber is 97 metres below the surface.

Perhaps the most imposing tomb of this period is Amenhotep III, WV22, located in the West Valley. It was re-investigated in the 1990s by a team from Waseda University, Japan, but it is not open to the public.

At the same time, powerful and influential nobles began to be buried with the royal family; the most famous of these tombs was the joint tomb of Yuya and Tjuyu, KV46. They were possibly the parents of Queen Tiy. Until the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, this was the best-preserved tomb in the Valley.

Amarna Period Tombs

The return of royal burials to Thebes after the end of the Amarna Period marks a change to the layout of royal burials, with the intermediate ‘jogged axis’ gradually giving way to the ‘straight axis’ of later dynasties. In the Western Valley, a tomb commencement is thought to have been started for Akhenaten, but it is no more than a gateway and a series of steps. The tomb of Ay, Tutankhamun’s successor, is nearby. This tomb was likely started for Tutankhamun (its decoration is similar) but later usurped for Ay’s burial. This would mean that KV62 may have been Ay’s original tomb, explaining a royal tomb’s smaller size and unusual layout.

The other Amarna Period tombs are located in a smaller, central area in the centre of the East Valley, with a possible mummy cache (KV55) that may contain the burials of several Amarna Period royals – Tiy and Smenkhkare or Akhenaten.

Nearby is the burial of Tutankhamun, perhaps the most famous discovery of modern Western archaeology. Howard Carter discovered it here on 4 November 1922, with clearance and conservation work continuing until 1932. This was the first royal tomb to be found that was still largely intact, although tomb robbers had entered. Until the excavation of KV63 on 10 March 2005, it was considered the last significant discovery in the Valley. The luxury of his grave goods notwithstanding, Tutankhamun was a relatively minor king and other burials probably had more numerous treasures.

In the same central area, as KV62 and KV63 are KV64, a radar anomaly believed to be a tomb or chamber was announced on 28 July 2006. It was not an official designation, and the Supreme Council of Antiquities dismissed a tomb’s actual existence before finally excavating and describing it during 2011–2012.

The nearby tomb of Horemheb (KV57) is rarely open to visitors, but it has many unique features and is extensively decorated. The decoration shows a transition from the pre-Amarna tombs to those of the 19th dynasty tombs.

Nineteenth Dynasty Tombs

The Nineteenth Dynasty saw a further standardisation of tomb layout and decoration. The tomb of the dynasty’s first king, Ramesses I, was hurriedly finished due to the King’s death and is little more than a truncated descending corridor and a burial chamber. However, KV16 has vibrant decoration and still contains the King’s sarcophagus. Its central location makes it one of the more frequently visited tombs. It shows the development of the tomb entrance and passage and decoration.

His son and successor, Seti I’s tomb KV17 (also known as Belzoni’s tomb, the tomb of Apis, or the tomb of Psammis, son of Necho), is usually regarded as the finest tomb in the Valley. It has extensive relief work and paintings. When Belzoni rediscovered it in 1817, he called it “a fortunate day.”

The son of Seti, Ramesses II (Ramesses the Great), constructed a massive tomb, KV7, but it is in a ruinous state. The tomb is vast, about the same length and more extensive than his father’s. It is currently undergoing excavation and conservation by a Franco-Egyptian team led by Christian Leblanc.

At the same time, just opposite his tomb, Ramesses enlarged the earlier small tomb of an unknown Eighteenth Dynasty noble (KV5) for his numerous sons. With 120 known rooms and excavation work still underway, it is probably the largest tomb in the Valley. Originally opened (and robbed) in antiquity, it is a low-lying structure that has been particularly prone to flash floods that sometimes hit the area. Tonnes of debris and material have washed over centuries, concealing its vast size. It is not currently open to the public.

Ramesses II’s son and eventual successor, Merenptah’s tomb, has been open since antiquity; it extends 160 metres, ending in a burial chamber that once contained a set of four nested sarcophagi. Well decorated, it is typically open to the public most years.

The last kings of the dynasty also constructed tombs in the Valley, all of which followed the same general pattern of layout and decoration. Notable amongst these is the tomb of Siptah, which is well decorated, especially the ceiling.

Twentieth Dynasty Tombs

The dynasty’s first ruler, Setnakhte, had constructed two tombs for himself. He started excavating the eventual tomb of his son, Ramesses III, but abandoned that dig when it broke into another tomb. He then usurped and completed the tomb of the Nineteenth Dynasty female pharaoh, Twosret, KV14. Therefore, this tomb has two burial chambers, the later extensions making this one of the largest Royal tombs, at over 150 metres.

The tomb of Ramesses III (KV11, known as Bruce’s Tomb or The Harper’s Tomb due to its decoration) is one of the largest tombs in the Valley and is open to the public. It is located close to the central ‘rest–area’, and its location and superb decoration make this one of the most visited tombs.

The successors and offspring of Ramesses III constructed tombs that had straight axes. They all had similar decorations. Notable amongst these is KV2, the tomb of Ramesses IV, which has been open since antiquity and contains a large amount of hieratic graffiti. The tomb is primarily intact and decorated with scenes from several religious texts. The joint tomb of Ramesses V and Ramesses VI, KV9 (also known as the Tomb of Memnon or La Tombe de la Métempsychose) is decorated with many sunk-relief carvings depicting illustrated scenes from religious texts. Since antiquity, it has contained over a thousand examples of graffiti written in ancient Greek, Latin, and Coptic. The spoil from the excavation and later clearance of this tomb and the later construction of workers’ huts covered the earlier burial of KV62. It seemed to have protected that tomb from earlier discovery and looting.

The tomb of Ramesses IX, KV6, has been open since antiquity, as can be seen by the graffiti left on its walls by Roman and Coptic visitors. Located in the central part of the Valley, it is between and slightly above KV5 and KV55. The tomb extends 105 metres into the hillside, including extensive side chambers that were neither decorated nor finished. The hasty and incomplete nature of the rock-cutting and decorations (only decorated for a little over half its length) within the tomb indicate that the tomb was not completed by Ramesses’ death, with the constructed hall of pillars serving as the burial chamber.

Another notable tomb from this dynasty is KV19, the tomb of Mentuherkhepshef (son of Ramesses IX). This small tomb is a converted, unfinished corridor, but the decoration is extensive. The tomb has been newly restored and opened for visitors.

Twenty-first Dynasty and the decline of the cemetery

By the end of the New Kingdom, Egypt had entered a protracted political and economic decline. The priests at Thebes grew more powerful and effectively administered Upper Egypt, while kings ruling from Tanis controlled Lower Egypt. Some attempt at using the open tombs was made at the start of the Twenty-first Dynasty, with the High Priest of Amun, Pinedjem I, adding his cartouche to KV4.

The Valley began to be heavily plundered, so during the twenty-first dynasty, the priests of Amun opened most of the tombs and moved the mummies into three tombs to protect them better. They removed most of the treasure to preserve the bodies from robbers further. Most of these were later moved to a single cache near Deir el-Bahari (known as TT320). Located on the cliffs overlooking Hatshepsut’s famous temple, this mass reburial contained many royal mummies. They were found in an excellent state of disorder, many placed in others’ coffins, and several remain unidentified. Other mummies were moved to the tomb of Amenhotep II, where over a dozen mummies, many of them royal, were later relocated.

During the later Third Intermediate Period and later periods, intrusive burials were introduced into many open tombs. In Coptic times, some tombs were used as churches, stables, and houses.

Minor tombs in the Valley of the Kings

The majority of the 65 numbered tombs in the Valley of the Kings can be considered minor tombs, either because, at present, they have yielded little information or because the results of their investigations were only poorly recorded by their explorers. Some have received very little attention or were only cursorily noted. Most of these tombs are small, often consisting of only a single burial chamber accessed by a shaft or staircase with a corridor or a series of corridors leading to the room.

Nonetheless, some are larger, multiple-chambered tombs. These minor tombs served various purposes: some were intended for burials of lesser royalty or private burials, some contained animal burials, and others never received a primary burial. In many cases, these tombs also served secondary functions; later, intrusive material related to these secondary activities was found. While some of these tombs have been open since antiquity, most were discovered in the 19th and early 20th centuries during the height of exploration in the Valley.

Tomb robbers

Almost all tombs throughout Egypt have been robbed. Several papyri that describe the trials of tomb robbers have been found. These date mainly from the late Twentieth Dynasty. One of these, Papyrus Mayer B, represents the robbery of the tomb of Ramesses VI and was probably written during year eight or nine of Ramesses X, around 1118BC.

The foreigner Nesamun took us up and showed us the tomb of King Ramesses VI … And I spent four days breaking into it, we being present all five. We opened the tomb and entered it. … We found a cauldron of bronze, three wash bowls of bronze …

Confessing their crimes, the thief adds that a small quarrel arose amongst the robbers regarding equally dividing the spoils collected from the tomb.

Tombs were filled with valuables, which were prime motivation to rob them. Thieves often looted the chambers and bodies of mummies and took precious metals and stones, the most common gold and silver, linens and ointments or unguents. Frequently, tombs were robbed when they were still fresh because many of the valuables buried with the mummies were perishable.

The Valley also seems to have suffered an official plundering during the virtual civil war, which started during the reign of Ramesses XI. The tombs were opened, all the valuables were removed, and the mummies were collected into two large caches. One in the tomb of Amenhotep II contained sixteen, and others were hidden within King Amenhotep I’s tomb. A few years later, most of them were moved to the Deir el-Bahari cache, including no fewer than forty royal mummies and coffins. Only tombs whose locations were lost (KV62, KV63 and KV46, although both KV62 and KV46 were robbed soon after their actual closure) were undisturbed during this period.

The oldest of the world’s seven wonders, the Pyramid of Giza, was built by King Khufu, the most powerful ruler of the Old Kingdom. Sources suggest that until the ninth century AD, the pyramid remained sealed and untouched by robbers. However, these intruders also imply that once in the King’s chamber, they saw the mummy had been taken, and the coffin opened. In the giant pyramids, tunnels were established to deter thieves from robbing the tomb. Tombs were ransacked for their valuables but also their original primary purpose. Once stolen, an empty tomb could be used as a burial place for another mummy, precisely what happened in most miniature pyramids of Giza.

Tourism to the Valley of the Kings

Most of the tombs are not open to the public (18 can be opened but are rarely available simultaneously), and officials occasionally close those open for restoration work. The West Valley has only one empty tomb—Ay—and a separate ticket is needed to visit this tomb. The number of visitors to KV62 has led to a separate charge for entry into the grave. The tour guides are no longer allowed to lecture inside the tombs, and visitors are expected to proceed quietly and in single files through the vaults. This minimises the time in the tombs and prevents the crowds from damaging the surfaces of the decoration.

In 1997, 58 tourists and four Egyptians were massacred at nearby Deir el-Bahari by Islamist militants from Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya. This led to an overall drop in tourism in the area.

Most days of the week, 4,000 to 5,000 tourists visit the Central Valley. The West Valley is much less visited, as only one tomb is open.

Kings Mummies in Egyptian Museum

The Ministry of Antiquities exhibits all mummies in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (Egypt). Yet, the mummy of Tutankhamun is the only one kept where it has lain for almost three and a half millennia.

Conclusion

The Valley of the Kings is a beautiful and mesmerising ancient Egyptian monument. Everyone who loves such places needs to visit the Valley of the Kings. It would take you back to ancient times and astonish you with its masterpieces.

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