Lost and Found in the Valley of the Kings

How the Tombs of Egypt Were Plundered, Hidden, and Rediscovered

Sep 22, 2009

Egyptian tombs were built to foil tomb robbers, but it seldom worked. When the priests of Amen finally did hide their Pharaohs, they remained lost until the 19th century.

The tombs in the Valley of the Kings were built in order to hide the remains of the pharaohs and their rich grave goods from tomb robbers. Unfortunately, these rock-cut tombs in the cliffs weren’t any better at protecting the dead kings than the earlier pyramids and mastabas were. But many of the tombs were lost at different periods of time. In fact, some were lost and found and lost again. Today, archaeologists know the locations of all the tombs, but it took many years of exploration to achieve this.

New Kingdom Tombs

Around the beginning of the New Kingdom, about 1500 BC, Amenophis I (or Amenhotep) decided to have his tomb built separately from his mortuary temple, perhaps because a separate tomb might attract less attention from tomb robbers than one built next to a fancy temple, as had been the custom. Amenophis was not buried in the Valley of the Kings, but most of the pharaohs who came after him were, right through the 18th, 19th and 20th dynasties. These New Kingdom pharaohs were from Thebes, unlike their predecessors, and they may also have chosen to be buried in their homeland, right across the Nile from the city of Thebes. Thutmose I (or Tuthmosis) was the first pharaoh to have his tomb cut into the cliffs of Biban el-Muluk, the Valley of the Kings.

The Valley of the Kings

The Valley of the Kings is small compared to neighboring valleys; it covers only about seven acres. But it is a remote and not easily accessible place with only a single narrow entrance. There are two branches, the East Valley and the West Valley, with most of the tombs in the east. Towering over the valley is el-Qurn, the largest peak in the area. El-Qurn is shaped like a pyramid, which may be another reason the pharaohs chose to be entombed there.

Most of the tombs had long sloping corridors, with a series of chambers off the sides. These rooms were used for the storage of equipment and grave goods, or for funerary ceremonies. The burial chamber was the deepest, at the end of the corridor. The tomb entrances were mostly hidden or at least unmarked, to make them harder to find. Those higher up on the cliffs probably had wooden stairways leading to them; after the deceased was entombed, the stairs could be removed to make it harder for tomb robbers to get in. Most of the attempts to hide or block the tomb entrances were unsuccessful, and every single tomb was invaded by tomb robbers, sometimes very soon after the tombs were sealed. In fact, the thieves were often the very craftsmen who built the tombs.

The Scourge of Tomb Raiders

Tomb robbing became such a problem that, by the end of the 20th dynasty, nearly all the tombs had been despoiled and the royal mummies severely damaged. Soon after, the High Priests of Amen got together to salvage what they could from the burials. They collected the mummies, and in many cases re-wrapped them in new linen. Then the old pharaohs were laid to rest again, this time in secret mass burials in the tomb of Queen Inhapi (at Deir el-Bahri, outside the Valley) and the tomb of Amenophis II. The entrance was hidden and the tomb forgotten.

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