Valley of The Kings

Hidden behind the Theban Hills, on the West Bank of the Nile, lies the Valley of the Kings.

It was chosen as the burial place for most of Egypt's New Kingdom rulers for several reasons. As the crow flies, the Valley is very close to the cultivated banks of the river. It is small, surrounded by steep cliffs, and easily guarded. The local limestone, cut millions of years ago by torrential rains to form the Valley, is of good quality. And towering above the Valley is a mountain, el-Qurn ("the horn" in Arabic), whose shape may have reminded the ancient Egyptians of a pyramid, the cult symbol of the sun-god Re.

There are over 60 tombs in the Valley of the Kings, ranging from small, unfinished one-room pits to a tomb with over 110 chambers and corridors. Most were found already plundered; a few, like the tomb of Tutankhamun or that of Yuya and Thuya (KV 46), contained thousands of precious artifacts.

The most famous Egyptian pharaoh today is, without doubt, Tutankhamun. The boy king died in his late teens and remained at rest for over 3,300 years.

All that changed in November 1922, when Tutankhamun's tomb was discovered by the British Egyptologist Howard Carter who was excavating on behalf of his patron Lord Carnarvon. His tomb almost escaped discovery and could have been undiscovered to this day.

Carter had been searching for the tomb for a number of years and Carnarvon had decided that enough time and money had been expended with little return. However, Carter managed to persaude his patron to fund one more season and within days of resuming the tomb was found. Today, the tomb still contains the pharaoh's remains, hidden from view inside the outermost of three coffins. He is the only pharaoh still residing in the Valley of the Kings - as far as we know! The tomb itself is very small and appears to have been destined for someone of lesser importance. Tutankhamun's unexpected early demise saw the tomb's rushed modification to accommodate the pharaoh.