TRAVEL   EGYPT   TOURS 

After the defeat of the Hyksos and the reunification of Egypt under Ahmose I, the Theban rulers began to construct elaborate tombs that would reflect their newfound power.

 

The tombs of Ahmose and his son Amenhotep I (their exact location remains unknown) were probably in the Seventeenth Dynasty necropolis of Dra' Abu el-Naga'

 

The first royal tombs in the valley were those of Amenhotep I(although this identification is also disputed), and Thutmose I, whose advisor Ineni notes in his tomb that he advised his king to place his tomb in the desolate valley (the identity of this actual tomb is unclear, but it is probably KV20 or KV38).“I saw to the excavation of the rock-tomb of his majesty, alone, no one seeing, no one hearing.”

 

The Valley was used for primary burials from approximately 1539 BC to 1075 BC, and 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, although non-Royal burials continued in usurped tombs.

 

Despite the name, the Valley of the Kings also contains the tombs of favorite nobles as well as the wives and children of both nobles and pharaohs, meaning that only about 20 of the tombs actually contain the burials of kings; the burials of nobles and the royal family, together with unmarked pits and embalming caches make up the rest.

 

Around the time of Ramses I (ca. 1301 BC) construction commenced in the separate Valley of the Queens.

 

What to See at Valley of the Kings

The Valley of the Kings stands on the west bank of the Nile, across from modern Luxor, under the peak of the pyramid-shaped mountain Al-Qurn. It is separated into the East and West Valleys, with most of the important tombs in the East Valley.

 

The West Valley has only one tomb open to the public: the tomb of Ay, Tutankhamun's successor. There are a number of other important burials there, including that of Amenhotep III, but these are still being excavated and are not publicly accessible.

 

The acronym KV (for"King's Valley") is used to designate tombs located in the Valley of the Kings. Each tomb discovered in the Valley of the Kings has been allocated a sequential "KV number" (those in the Western Valley are known by the WV equivalent) to aid identification.

 

The tombs are numbered in the order of modern discovery, from Ramesses VII (KV1) to Tutankhamun (KV62). Some of the tombs have been open since antiquity and KV5 has only recently been rediscovered. Graffiti on the walls of some of the tombs indicate that this was an attraction ancient Greek and Roman times.

Most of the open tombs in the Valley of the Kings are located in the East Valley, and this is where most tourists can be found as well. KV5is the largest of the tombs, built for the sons of Ramesses II. It contains at least 67 burial chambers.

 

The most famous tomb is KV62, the Tomb of King Tutankhamun. The discovery of King Tut's tomb was made by Howard Carter on November 4, 1922, with clearance and conservation work continuing until 1932. Tutankhamun's tomb was the first royal tomb to be discovered that was still largely intact (although tomb robbers had entered it), and was the last major discovery in the valley. The opulence of his grave goods notwithstanding, King Tutankhamun was a rather minor king and other burials probably had more numerous treasures.

Some members of the archaeological teams led by Carter and others contracted local lethal viruses through food or animals (particularly insects), resulting in the infamous "Curse of The Pharaohs" legend.

 

The numbering of the West Valley tombs follows in sequence to that of the East Valley, and there are only four known burials/pits in the valley.

This tomb contained an astounding mummy cache. It is located in the cliffs overlooking Hatshepsut's temple at Deir el-Bahri, was found to contain many of Egypt's most famous pharaohs. They were found in a great state of disorder, many placed in other people's coffins, and several are still unidentified.